Pubdate: Wed, 14 Aug 2002
Source: New Brunswick Telegraph Journal (CN NK)
Page: A10
Copyright: 2002 New Brunswick Publishing Company
Contact:  http://www.nbnews.com/telegraphjournal/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/289
Author: Chuck Brown

DRUG COALITION WANTS COMMUNITY TO HELP PLAN WORKSHOPS

ST. STEPHEN - A group dedicated to finding solutions to Charlotte County 
drug problems is asking for the public's help in planning a substance abuse 
workshop this fall.

The Charlotte County Coalition for a Drug Free Community - a group of 
social workers, health professionals, law enforcers, parents and others - 
has sent out a survey asking the public to identify the topics most 
important to them.

Judy Nelson, an addiction counsellor working out of the Ridgewood Addiction 
Service's St. Stephen office and one of the organizers of the fall 
workshop, said the coalition is asking for help because it wants to present 
information people want and need.

"What do people want to know?" she said. "I don't think we know exactly 
what we'll be doing for the community until we get some response. But it 
will be to provide people with education in order to feel that their family 
and the people that are close to them are not going to be presented with 
this choice and that if they are, they'll know how to say it's not for me."

St. Stephen, like many communities in New Brunswick and beyond, has seen 
drug abuse and addiction on the rise. In recent years, abuse of 
prescription painkillers has increased and drugs like Dilaudid and 
OxyContin have made headlines for their addictive and destructive effects. 
The drugs are effective painkillers when used as prescribed but abusers are 
crushing the pills and snorting or injecting them for fast, powerful highs.

But while painkillers are making news locally and nationally, Ms. Nelson 
said alcohol and marijuana remain the most destructive addictions in 
Charlotte County.

And there are other drugs. "Heroin is back on the streets in many places, 
so I don't feel like if you get rid of OxyContin you've gotten rid of the 
issue," Ms. Nelson said.

In a questionnaire for Charlotte County residents, Ms. Nelson and the 
coalition are presenting a number of options for workshop topics, from 
prescription drug abuse to children and addiction to Ritalin to gambling.

Ms. Nelson said response from the community will help guide the coalition, 
which she said is trying to attack addiction from a positive, proactive 
angle. She wants the fall workshop to go beyond an introduction of where 
addicts can find help.

"Are we looking at wellness or are we looking at dealing with people who 
are addicted? And we always come back to wellness," Ms. Nelson said. "We 
always come back to trying to have this be the kind of community where 
people aren't going to need drugs as a way to feel happy or to feel 
comfortable or to feel like themselves. "But we also do not want to have 
our heads in the sand."

Ideally the workshop will find a balance "to address the needs both of 
people who are addicted and to provide skills for prevention," she said.

"It will be focused on more specifics around drugs. I think we've done 
enough general stuff."

While it's still in the planning stage, Ms. Nelson said the workshop may be 
broken down into sessions for the public and sessions for professionals - 
health-care workers, abuse prevention workers and others.

For more information, or to participate in the Charlotte County Coalition 
for a Drug Free Community, contact Ms. Nelson at 465-4412.

Suggestions for workshop topics may also be sent to Ms. Nelson at the 
Charlotte County Hospital, 4 Garden St., St. Stephen, N.B. E3L 2L9.
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MAP posted-by: Beth