Pubdate: Wed, 21 Sep 2005
Source: Parry Sound North Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005, Parry Sound North Star
Contact:  http://www.parrysoundnorthstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1618
Author: Stephannie Johnson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

ANTI-DRUG GROUP LAUNCHED

In this final installment of our four-part series, the North Star 
speaks with concerned parents, teachers and other community members 
who are banding together to get help for area youths who struggle 
with substance abuse. Critics of the system say that Parry Sound and 
area addiction programs don't work well because youths with addiction 
issues have a hard time opening up to treatment. However, in the 
Parry Sound area, several drug and alcohol treatment centres offer 
programs to help those in need of addiction counselling and support.

The small classroom was silent, except for each emotion--filled voice 
as people spoke one by one before the crowd of more than 50 and 
explained why they were at the first meeting of Helping Addicts 
Restore Themselves (HART) last Thursday evening at the Early Years Centre.

Some said with tears in their eyes that they were recovering addicts 
themselves, wanting to prevent someone else from having to suffer 
through drug abuse. Others were teachers, principals, concerned 
family members and parents.

Some said that they were simply interested in this new group that 
wants to rid the Town of Parry Sound and surrounding areas of drugs 
and their deadly destruction of young people.

Roger Desmarais, a long-time youth counsellor for the region, said 
that according to Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, in 
Toronto, the number of a community's citizens with substance abuse 
issues usually equals 10 per cent of its population. Using that rule 
and based upon the Parry Sound High School student population of 
1,000, approximately 100 students could have substance abuse problems.

About five times that many--or 500 students--as estimated by the 
formula used by the Toronto agency, have tried drugs.

Meanwhile, whatever the individual motivations, for two hours members 
of the community banded together toward one common goal--to wage war, 
collectively, against drug addiction and abuse. While HART's official 
mandate is still in its preliminary stages of development, the group 
met at the Waubeek Street centre, shared their stories, asked 
thought-provoking questions, and made suggestions as to how to make a 
dangerous situation better.

Suggestions ranged from building a recreation centre with a pool for 
youth, to enforcing a curfew to keeping children off the streets late at night.

The idea to form an anti-drug committee stemmed from the suicide of 
MacKenzie Stevenson, 18, whose lengthy battle with drug addiction led 
him to hang himself in May.

"That sparked everybody talking. One child is way too many to lose. A 
lot of us were involved with or knew MacKenzie, and we're all seeing 
a huge increase in drug use in this community," said HART chair Gail 
Macdonald in an interview. "If parents don't get involved and do 
something, we're going to lose our kids--we are losing our kids."

Angela Moffatt, MacKenzie's mother, is an executive member of HART 
and fully supports its initiatives to help the youth in the 
community. She was overwhelmed with emotion when she addressed the 
crowd on September 15.

"My son died on May 7. He took his own life. He was an addict. He was 
a great kid. We didn't have what he needed in this town and he 
couldn't get straight and stay straight," said Ms Moffatt. "My son 
was served as a minor in one of our local bars on a regular basis. My 
son scored dope every day. People can't bury their heads in the sand 
anymore. We have to help these kids. I hope no other mother goes 
through what I went through, so let's get it together and help these kids."

"My interest is that of a parent," Ms MacDonald said as to why she's 
involved in this committee. "I think the hardest part of all this is 
opening your mouth and finding out that there are other parents in 
this position."

For the last two months, Ms MacDonald's eldest daughter has been in a 
one-year rehab facility, after battling a crack cocaine habit for 
several years. Her addiction began when she was 13 years old.

"The more she chased the drug the more I chased her and I'm sure some 
of you can identify with that," Ms MacDonald said. "As a parent, I 
have to tell you this was the hardest thing I've ever dealt with in 
my life. Embarrassing. That's why we, as parents, don't talk about 
it, because we'll take on the stigma that we're bad parents. So we 
have this stuff that it's the kids on the other side of the track who 
use drugs. This disease doesn't care if you're upper class, middle 
class or lower class," she said.

Throughout her seven-year ordeal, Ms MacDonald jokes, she became a 
detective of sorts, trying to figure out where her daughter was 
getting drugs and alcohol while she was so young.

"There are people in this town who will buy anybody's child a bottle 
of alcohol for an extra $5. I went down to the LCBO, and sure enough, 
there are people in this community that are willing to do that," she 
said. "I would like to think that adults wouldn't buy children 
alcohol. I would like to believe that good community people don't 
open drug houses in our community. I would like to believe that 
people wouldn't rent to drug dealers.

"Whatever your worst nightmare is, that happened to my daughter. And 
this is a parent's worst nightmare, going through this, because you 
really do feel like you're fighting it alone. The parents are the 
ones who are paying for damages, replacing the stolen items. They're 
the ones pacing the floors at night," Ms MacDonald said. "People are 
saying that the city's moving up here. Well, it's here. We have 
pregnant moms walking around here addicted to cocaine. We have babies 
on crack pipes when they're 12 years old. At 12, I consider them 
babies. I think drugs have always been here and we've just buried our heads."

Ann Smith (not her real name), a parent and local teacher, told the 
group of her own struggles to keep her adolescent son away from 
drugs, even though he says that he's already a recreational user of marijuana.

"I think the high school is doing the best they can. I know he's 
steeped in a counter-culture of kids who are saying drugs are okay 
and they're fun," said Ms Smith, who has recently been giving her son 
monthly urine tests to ensure that he's not using drugs this school 
term. "I didn't know when I gave him $3 for juice, that he combined 
the money with a buddy and they would buy and smoke a joint before 
they went to class. It's not a school problem, it's a community 
problem. It's been growing for years and we have to try and turn it around."

While none of HART's executive members blamed Parry Sound High School 
(PSHS) for the current drug problem among youth in the community, 
they all agreed and recognized that it is a crucial piece of the 
puzzle, because most of the affected youths go to that school.

PSHS principal Shahina Butt said at the meeting that neither she nor 
other teachers deny that there's a drug problem at the school, but 
it's not the root cause of the drug problem in the community.

"Not for a minute would the high school deny that there's a problem, 
but we as a community must acknowledge that this is a community 
problem, not the high school's problem," said Ms. Butt. "To catch the 
kids red-handed, I think we need to be super detectives. There are 
people who deliver drugs to the main person in school, and that 
person disseminates the drugs. We haven't been able to catch this 
main person. We know that drug deals happen in our school.

"We should be in the school, as curriculum leaders, helping develop 
students' learning. What I find myself and the two vice-principals 
doing is we are more social workers, patrollers of the halls and 
yards trying to find out where the drug deals are going on. I am 
looking for any help I can get from the community to stop this, 
because I know that learning is impacted, attendance is impacted. 
What are we here for? We are here for our kids," Ms Butt said.

West Parry Sound OPP Constable Christine Dawson echoed Ms Butt's 
statement, saying that the drug problem at PSHS is not unlike others 
across the province and the school is certainly not to blame.

"I'm surprised that people are actually admitting that there is a 
problem in the community, because most of the communities say, 'We 
don't have a problem,'" Ms Dawson said at the meeting. "I think with 
what the North Star has been putting out is opening more people's 
eyes, but it's good to see that the community realizes that there is a problem.

"I wouldn't say it's any more than in any other community. People are 
saying the high school is really bad. If you go to any high school, 
you're going to find the same thing. It was a problem when I was in 
high school, and if you ask principals, in years past it hasn't 
changed. So, it's not just Parry Sound High School," Ms Dawson said.

Currently, there are approximately 45 people at the local detachment 
and a large area to cover. They do the best they can to crack down on 
known drug houses and dealers, but they can only do so much, Ms Dawson said.

"Look at the area we police, it's from Britt to Gordon Bay, we've got 
Whitestone, Rosseau, that's a huge area and we've got just a few 
officers," she said. "A lot of people are saying they know where the 
crack houses are. Well, how many people are calling us? They aren't. 
That's what we're looking for, is community involvement. The police 
can't do it all unless we get the community calling us, saying 
'here's where and this is what's happening,' and then we can look 
into things," she said."We try to get together with the high school 
to talk about drinking and risk-related behaviour. The DARE program 
is taught to Grades 6, 7, and 8. We've had the drug dog come in and 
do a search.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program was founded in 1993 and 
teaches children, through help with local police, how to resist peer 
pressure and live a drug-free life.

"I think with the community, if they're not in denial, they're saying 
it's the high school's fault and it's not, it's really not," said Ms Dawson.

William Beatty principal Gary Moran, who has been in the education 
system for more than three decades, said that he does his best to 
reach the younger children, those 10 and under, warning them of the 
real, deadly dangers of drugs. At that age, he says, they're more 
willing to heed adult advice.

"Drug education starts when they're 10, you have to hit those Grade 
5s," Mr. Moran said. "First of all, I think the drug problem is 
systemic. We're almost approaching the third generation of drug 
users, or the second. And if the drugs are in the home and the kids 
are exposed to them, how do you break that? What is causing the kids 
to take the drugs?

"How do you prevent them from going to the next step? Where is the 
self-worth that the kids have? If they don't believe in themselves, 
who do they turn to? If school becomes a home, because home is 
terrible to go to, then what happens to them? So you have all these 
different areas and how do you fix it?" Mr. Moran said.

Another way William Beatty is keeping a closer eye on its students is 
by keeping them on school property at all times, unless they receive 
a note from parents.

"Students can't leave the school property. The parents say 'why?', 
because I want to keep your kids safe. They leave my school yard and 
I don't know where they are or what they're doing," he said.

Concerned local resident Naomi Richter, 22, who attended the meeting, 
suggested that many children will try drugs regardless of what 
authority figures say, and that it's up to parents to keep their kids 
on the straight and narrow.

"You can't teach a child not to touch something that's hot, until 
they've hurt themselves with it. It's basic simple principles. 
They're going to do it no matter what, because they want to know, 
they have to know. There are some students who want to live a 
drug-free life and they'll do that, but for the rest of them they're 
going to try it and never do it again, or they're going to try it and 
be stuck, and we have to find those kids," said Ms Richter. "I can't 
believe that there's kids out at 10 o'clock at night playing with 
their friends on a school night. Kids need to have structure, they 
crave it, but they're not going to tell you that. Kids should not be 
hanging out, they should not be out on the streets," she said.

However large some community members may believe that the drug 
problem is, Parry Sound Mayor Ted Knight believes that there's 
adequate help in the region for those suffering from a drug addiction.

"It was a very worthwhile, grassroots meeting to try to get things 
happening within the area, and we'll see where we can go from there. 
I think the committee is moving forward on getting things to help 
people in the area who have an addiction problem," said Mr. Knight, 
who attended the meeting. "I think you're always going to get a 
sector of society that, it doesn't matter what the municipalities do, 
they're still going to do what they do, I mean the drugs. I think 
there are things for the youth to do in Parry Sound and we need the 
balance of those people who use drugs to partake in these activities 
that are put on."

Ms MacDonald said that she and other community members are driving 
youths three or four times a week to detox centres in North Bay, 
Sudbury or Barrie. The young people approach Ms MacDonald and other 
mothers pleading that they need to go to detox, she says, and if 
she's able she drives them wherever they need to go.

"Why am I doing this community's work? Why as parents do we have to 
do this? These are not my children. Somebody has to care about these 
kids," said Ms MacDonald in a previous interview. "They need help, 
they need help today, because if we wait one day they'll be using 
again. I know we have agencies in this town that deal with addiction, 
but they're so restricted."

When a crack addict comes forward and wants help, it's needed 
immediately. They don't need help in five weeks after assessments, 
they don't need help in two weeks when a ride can be arranged to go 
to detox. They need help today, and we have nothing in this community 
that's able to help addicts today. Why don't we, when we know that 
addiction is on the rise here?"

Provincial ministry of health spokesperson David Jenson said 
hospitals interested in getting a detox centre must first apply.

"Generally, they would have to develop a proposal and submit it to 
the Ministry of Health and we would review it and take it from 
there," said Mr. Jenson. "Certainly the need for a detox would be a 
prime consideration."

When asked whether the community needs a detox centre, Mayor Knight 
said, "I think we need one if the numbers are there, but I'm not 
going to just go by what the people said at that meeting."

Since the North Star began its drug series four weeks ago, Ms 
MacDonald said, she's heard a lot of positive feedback.

"I think we're at a place now that this situation is critical. A lot 
of people have said it's about time people came forward to talk about 
the drugs here. The more I meet parents, the more we meet 
collectively, the more I realize how serious an issue this is.

"When you hear of a kid like MacKenzie dying, it's really 
frightening, and I know what it's like to sit on the edge of the 
couch waiting for the phone to ring," she said.

Ms MacDonald said the committee wants to let the drug dealers in the 
region know that concerned community members are standing up and 
taking notice of the increasing drug problem among local youth. The 
first step for the committee is a group walk on October 26 to promote 
a safer community, starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Friendship Centre on 
Bowes Street.

"I think first of all we want to let the dealers know that we're 
aware they're there and guess what, we're not going to be quiet. 
There's a big fear and stigma about dealers. You know what, they're 
sick addicts themselves. I haven't met a wealthy dealer in my life," 
Ms MacDonald said. "We know where all the drug houses are. We know 
who all the drug dealers are. What we don't know is why they're still 
in existence. Some have been dealing drugs in this community for 
years. Maybe together we'll get some answers."

The HART executive met at a private meeting on Monday to determine 
their next move. The date of the next meeting has yet to be determined.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman