Pubdate: Mon, 2 Apr 2001 Source: Oak Bay News (CN BC) Copyright: 2001 Oak Bay News Contact: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1346 Website: http://www.oakbaynews.com/ DRUGS EASIER TO BUY, CONSUME AND CONCEAL THAN ALCOHOL There is great irony in the permissiveness our society grants toward drinking. Alcohol is the drug of choice for the generation running things. It is established, it has a history, and it is accepted, embraced and celebrated. It is the one great vice that cannot be condemned. It is bulletproof. That said, we still frown upon anyone under 19 years of age who drinks. They're not allowed to drink, so they go hunting for alternatives. Like drugs. Here's the irony. It's difficult and expensive for kids to get booze. It's cheap and easy for them to score drugs. If they want a drink, they're going to have to raid dad's liquor cabinet, falsify their ID and creep into a club, or stand outside the liquor store hitting up strangers to go in and buy them some beer. It isn't easy and chances are they'll be out of pocket at least $20. For that same $20, they can buy a few joints or some chemicals from one of their classmates. They don't have to leave the relative safety of their school hallways and they likely know the person who is their dealer - making rip-offs, bad deals and poor drugs less likely. Const. Ian Craib, Oak Bay's Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) police officer, knows all about it. He routinely confiscates pot from 13 and 14-year-olds. "Kids are more likely to try marijuana now than alcohol," he says, explaining that "it's easier to get, easier to conceal and easier to consume." Try carrying a case of beer into the classroom. Through the D.A.R.E. program - which reaches out to Grade 5 and 6 students with a message to resist both drugs and violence - Craib is trying to turn a new generation away from a pattern of substance abuse many will fall into by their early teen years. Craib says the students at Monterey elementary (the only Oak Bay school where D.A.R.E. is offered) are willing participants in his weekly classroom visits. "The kids are starting to ask intelligent questions relating to drugs, questions they may have been afraid to ask before," he says. The questions (and the knowledge) are the first stage in getting our kids to make informed choices. Maybe some other Oak Bay schools should look at bringing D.A.R.E. into their classrooms, too. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D