Pubdate: Wed, 01 Nov 2006 Source: Sooke News Mirror (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 Sooke News Mirror Contact: http://www.sookenewsmirror.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2142 LOCAL YOUTH WRITES ABOUT USING DRUGS When most people think of a homeless person, they think of older people hanging out, the fact of the matter is that most homeless are youth. A prime reason for this is family stress and drugs. As a result of not having adequate treatment resources, most homeless people are brought down by drug use. Not all "people without homes" are youth. There are people of all ages living either on the streets or in make-shift shelters made of whatever they could find in their surroundings. There are many reasons why youth end up on the streets. Family-related problems, drugs, alcohol, or in many cases violence and abuse drive them out of the home. There are countless youth all over Canada and the whole world. The number of homeless increases every year, and very few are sheltered from drug abuse. These children are thought of as lazy and incapable, but the sad misfortune is that life is hard. The youth who end up on the streets often don't attain an adequate education in order to sustain a job and often people do not want to hire them. Most of the homeless society are marginalized from the rest of society and thereby create their own community. They are often addicted to coke, meth, or heroin. The prolonged side effects of these drugs are very significant. When using, your system builds up a tolerance to the pollutants that are imposed on the drug user, so they have to do more to achieve the desired high. Also, severe delusions, paranoia and suspiciousness result in the negative effects of drug use. There can be sever einternal bleeding, breakdown of muscle tissue leading to kidney failure, seizures and damage to the blood vessels to the brain (stroke). The use of drugs on the street is profound. In the worst case scenario, a highly addicted drug user can end their addictive life in death due to a drug overdose. Nobody cares who the corpse being hauled away with the tag on their toe is, or anyone even caring what their name is. The necessary steps to getting people off the streets are difficult. Addiction to drugs is a way of life. You live your life day in and day out, do whatever you want as your brain disintegrates into a pile of mush. If you are heavily addicted, you cannot use your own conscience to get straight. However, if you are under 18, there is a youth shelter that you can attend for a week. You get a meal, a bed and a bath. While in the shelter, you have to be straight or you will be banned from returning. Then you have to leave for two weeks and then you are allowed back for five days. If you got lucky, you can get yourself on a list for foster, or independent living. There are few options for homeless people. In conclusion, I see it is necessary to achieve a better community knowledge of what happens on the streets by educating youth and children of the events preceding homelessness, as well as better options for rehabilitation. The attitude towards homeless people is a great downfall in society's perspective. I believe that greater measures should be taken to educate the entire public on this growing "epidemic" and try to stop it before it happens, and take a firm grip on our community's interaction between each other. This essay was written by a Sooke youth who has first hand knowledge of homelessness and drug addiction. - --- MAP posted-by: Elaine