LEARNING ABOUT DRUGS

It disrupted a high school. It disrupted the lives of many students there.
It is about to disrupt the life of a person who ran afoul of the law. And
all this grief came from one source: heroin.

The conviction of Ferdi Mendoza in a Kitchener court this week on a charge
of possessing heroin for trafficking may help to end the disruption at
Waterloo-Oxford District Secondary School near Baden and of the students'
lives. Mendoza can expect no respite. He will likely serve time. The
question is, how much?

Mendoza pleaded guilty to the charge, laid after police investigated
stories about students in rural schools using heroin. Two other people will
be tried on charges stemming from this case.

The discovery of such a dangerous and addictive drug at Waterloo-Oxford
shocked adults in the townships surrounding the school. On the surface,
Wellesley and Wilmot townships seem like the last places in Ontario where
you would find heroin. These communities are not filled with poverty or
despair, two factors most Canadians might mistakenly assume are behind a
drug epidemic. Wellesley and Wilmot are beautiful townships that reflect
rural Ontario at its best.

In fact, they aren't just pretty places; they are strong communities, a
point that was proved in the way they responded to the heroin abuse. At one
point, 800 people crammed into the school auditorium to learn more about
the drug situation. Police, service clubs, churches and a youth group
offered their help. Parents also set up a community-based anti-drug group.

This is the positive side to an otherwise sad story. Students and their
parents are better informed now. No one goes around saying, "It couldn't
happen here." Everyone knows that it could.