Pubdate: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 Source: Powell River Peak (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 Peak Publishing Ltd. Contact: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=1998 Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/734 Author: Isabelle Southcott, Peak Reporter Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) FORUM CONTINUES FOCUS ON DRUGS AND YOUTH Powell River leads in a movement to shift attention from adult drug use to prevention among youth Addictions specialist Dr. Ray Baker will be in Powell River on January 26 to talk about drug issues facing youth. The presentation is a follow-up to a community forum held in April 2003 that looked at the effects drugs have on youth and other drug-related issues. "This is a huge issue for us in schools," said School District 47 assistant superintendent Jay Yule. Baker will discuss the problem, the current prevalence statistics, gateway activities, risk factors for addiction, drug-specific problems such as marijuana and youth, methamphetamines, cocaine and alcohol. He will also look at signs and symptoms of substance use disorders, evidence-based strategies, treatment, community mobilization and a new school district policy on drug and alcohol use. "We have proposed a new policy [on drug and alcohol use] and we have sent it out to various groups to comment on," said school board chairwoman Pauline Galinski. "It will be quite a strong policy if it goes through as it is written. Our mandate is to see that our schools are drug free . . . We can't stop kids from smoking drugs after school, that's a community issue. Someone else has to pick up the slack and do something about drugs in the community." There will be two seminars held on Wednesday, January 26, the first at 1 pm for district staff, service providers and others who work with youth. Anyone who works with youth and is interested in attending the first seminar can register by contacting Jan Grants, administration secretary at the school board office, at 604.414.2600 by January 21. A second seminar will be held at 7 pm at Oceanview Middle School for parents and interested community members. Baker is on the faculty at the University of British Columbia, chair of the BC Medical Association's addictions committee and runs an addictions centre in Vancouver. He has participated as primary investigator in a number of primary research projects including the World Health Organization's study on physician attitudes, knowledge and skills regarding their patients' alcohol problems. In 2000, Powell River school trustees put forward a motion regarding federal focus on youth marijuana use at the BC School Trustee Association's (BCSTA) annual general meeting in Penticton. That motion noted that the federal government has focused largely on adult use of marijuana in debates regarding decriminalization and medical applications. The motion stated: "Marijuana has significantly different effects on young people than on adults. It is important for policy-makers to recognize that while marijuana may be seen as a moderate drug in its effects on adults, it has serious short- and long-term negative effects on young people." Medical experience suggests marijuana can compromise short-term memory, cognitive ability and personal initiative in young people. The Powell River motion and a resolution that urged the federal government to shift its focus on the marijuana debate from adult use to prevention of use among young people was passed unanimously at the Penticton BCSTA annual general meeting. In January 2003 Powell River school trustees wrote a letter to then education minister Christy Clark about the destructiveness of marijuana on adolescents. In the letter, Galinski referred to the motion passed by BC School Trustees three years earlier. "Unfortunately the concerns expressed by the school trustees of this province on this issue seem to have disappeared into a black hole," she said. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek