STUDENTS LEARN FACTS

Drug Education Program Is Aimed At Students, Parents, And Community

Organizers have planned special events in the community to observe National
Addiction Awareness Week, November 17 to 23.

LEAD (Let's Educate About Drugs) volunteers will be staging the fourth
annual Drug Awareness Carnival for all grade eight students in Powell River
on November 18 at Oceanview Middle School.

Marianne Smisko, a LEAD committee member, said the students from all
schools will come to Oceanview in two groups, one in the morning and the
other in the afternoon. There will be 10 stations set up and at each
station students participate in an interactive game or experience where
they obtain information.

Randy Miller, the subject of a film on drug addiction, Through a Blue Lens,
will be in Powell River for two days. Students will hear Miller speak on
the day of the carnival.

That night, Miller will speak at an event for parents and the entire
community. His presentation begins at 7 pm on Monday, November 18 in the
Oceanview school commons.

In 1999, a few members of the Vancouver police department videotaped Miller
and other drug users, in an effort to chronicle the life of drug addicts in
Vancouver's downtown eastside. Not only did the filming result in the
documentary, Through a Blue Lens, but the experience proved to be the
turning point for Miller, who had spent 13 years in Vancouver's downtown
eastside.

Miller went into recovery for 15 months, then made a commitment to reach
out to children and youth to educate and inform them about the dangers of
drug use.

He currently speaks at schools all over the country. His message has been
described as powerful and gripping in its honest portrayal of the life and
choices of a recovering drug addict.

On Tuesday, November 19, Miller will speak to Westview Learning Centre
students and an assembly at Max Cameron Secondary School.

LEAD volunteers were also pleased when they received news that their
committee was chosen as the 2002 recipient of the Crime Prevention and
Community Safety Award for the Vancouver Island region.

The award is given out by the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor
General. It recognizes individuals and groups who have made outstanding
contributions in their communities.