Pubdate: Mon, 08 May 2006
Source: Meridian Booster (CN AB)
Copyright: 2006, The Lloydminster Meridian Booster
Contact:  http://www.meridianbooster.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1590
Author: Leo Pare

ANTI-DRUG COMMITTEE ALMOST WHOLE

A Lloydminster anti-drug committee is nearing its final form with the 
addition of two new members.

Lloydminster Meridian Booster -- A Lloydminster anti-drug committee 
is nearing its final form with the addition of two new members.

More than a dozen prominent local organizations have joined forces 
with the City of Lloydminster in formulating a made-at-home drug 
action plan to promote awareness on drugs and fight drug use among local youth.

More than a month ago, the city released the terms of reference for 
the newly formed Lloydminster Area Drug Strategy and Action 
Committee, and this past Monday city council appointed eight members 
to the fledgling committee.

In addition to the eight already appointed members, Monell Bailey of 
the Lloydminster Native Friendship Centre, and Tom Lysyk, senior 
director of corporate affairs for the city have both been appointed 
to the board.

"The organization is pretty much set up," Lysyk said. "I will just be 
looking after some coordination for the, making sure they get up and 
running. I'm also a little involved in the policing end, because I 
manage the police contract."

Other confirmed members include: Bonita Brick, representing the 
Prairie North Health Region, Pat Tenney, representing the Lloyd 
Chamber of Commerce, Michael Diachuk, representing the Lloydminster 
Public School Division; Kevin Kusch, representing the Lloydminster 
Catholic School Division; Craig Featherstone, representing the Walter 
A. 'Slim' Thorpe Recovery Centre; Shauna Godin, representing Catholic 
Social Services; Angela Rooks, representing Midwest Victims Services; 
Muriel Ralston, representing the Lloydminster Sexual Assault Centre; 
Linda Hegseth, representing the Department of Community Resources; 
and Dale Block of East Central Alberta Child and Family Services.

The committee is still waiting on one more appointment from the City 
of Lloydminster, but have tentatively scheduled a meeting for late 
May, where members will conduct a working session to determine 
principles and establish workgroups to target specific issues. 
Featherstone said he sees strong potential for the drug action 
committee to have a significant impact on the community.

"We don't know exactly what we're going to be doing yet, but we're 
excited about it," he said in a recent interview. "Nobody has any 
agenda of their own. We're all going in there with the idea of 
working together to do what we can to improve public awareness.

"There are plenty of addiction problems in this community and a lot 
of drug abuse and so on, that many people just aren't aware of. We 
want to get parents more aware of what to look for in their kids and 
things like that -- just any little thing we can do to help and get 
the public involved."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom