Pubdate: Sun, 11 Jun 2006
Source: Kelowna Capital News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006, West Partners Publishing Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.kelownacapnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1294
Author: Jennifer Smith, Staff reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

PICKING A PATH

Crystal Meth Grabs The Headlines But B.C. Teens Are Still More Likely 
To Have A Problem With Alcohol Or Marijuana, Say Local Experts

As hot topics go, this summer, crystal methamphetamine  is on the tip 
of Kelowna residents' tongues.

Where it is? Who is on it? How much is out there? How  can we avoid it?

Launched on May 18, the Crystal Meth Task Force has 90  days and 
$20,000 in grants, to devise a strategy for  protecting local youth, 
finding help for those already  addicted and deterring others from a 
similar path.

As the vice-principal of alternative Storefront School,  Doug Gray 
knows where crystal meth leads and knows all  too well the need for discussion.

"We are a growing community, struggling to deal with  how to handle 
people with drugs and mental illness. And  it's a real problem," he said.

He can pinpoint, virtually to the hour, the moment meth  showed upon 
his doorstep three years ago-and he could  point out the dealer.

For the four or five students it took out of his school  that first 
year, it was devastating.

He estimates less than 25 per cent but more than 10 per  cent of kids 
in Storefront use meth.

It has not hit the mainstream school system to any  measurable 
degree, say school board officials.

"It's a problem that's not large, but it is a big  problem," he said.

For those it does affect, the rapid downward spiral  leaves little 
time for intervention.

But most high risk teen problems are more obvious.

His students are from troubled homes, often lacking  parental 
support. Many are struggling with the early  signs of mental illness. 
They self-medicate and smoke-up  after school.

"Most of our kids drug," he explained. "It's so much in  their 
life,they can't separate it."

The tell-tale blue ring in a student's nostril lets him  know they've 
crushed up prescription Ritalin to snort  it; he's had other students 
who actively inject heroin  when they're not in class.

"Students who are truly high risk are usually at that  point in their 
lives for a variety of reasons," he  said.

"Anybody who works here could write a book on some of  the horrible 
things kids go through.

"They're detached, so they find each other. And they  find each other 
at 4:20," he added, using the popular  drug reference for smoking dope.

Born and raised in Kelowna, Gray sees his hometown  waking up to a new reality.

Where the good citizens of Kelowna once feared the  druggies and 
transients who brought problems to their  lakeside town,a new breed 
of drug-addicted poor are now  born and raised here.

"We're growing our own kids that are born here, raised  here and land 
up on the streets here," he said.

The question is-how do you stop it?

Although drugs and alcohol can have devastating  consequences for the 
high risk youth Gray deals with, substance abuse is a problem for 
every segment of  society.

Yet it's not always the drugs that grab headlines that  parents 
should fear. While the nefarious effects of  methamphetamine have a 
near-stranglehold on public and  media scrutiny these days, the 
biggest problem  substance among this country's youth,and certainly 
for  Okanagan teenagers, is alcohol; and the number one drug  of 
choice is still marijuana, more affectionately known  as B.C. Bud.

An innovative project conducted among Okanagan students  in the last 
five years may hold some of the answers to  why kids begin using and 
abusing both substances.

Five years ago, then Okanagan University College  professor Marvin 
Krank began the Project on Adolescent  Trajectories in Health 
(PATH)-a three-year study  looking at the development of high risk 
behaviours, their outcomes and ways to predict a move toward  problem 
behaviours among youth.

In the two years since the study ended, he has  published several 
book chapters and papers on his  findings and helped to develop a new 
disciplinary  system for kids caught with marijuana or paraphernalia 
in the Central Okanagan School District.

And he's about to embark on a prevention program to  radically alter 
how adults pitch prevention messages to  kids.

According to PATH figures, 38 per cent of boys and 42  per centin 
Grade 9 have tried marijuana-figures similar  to statistics gathered 
by the non-profit McCreary  Centre Society, which studies B.C. youths' health.

Krank's study shows social setting, cultural influence  and family 
relationships all play important roles in  the decision to use; but 
it also suggests that decision  is not random. Outside influence can 
be measured,  assessed and used to predict risk.

"We know that parents who smoke marijuana are far more  likely to 
raise kids who smoke marijuana-and at an  earlier age," saidKrank. 
"Just as drinking parents  increase the likelihood their kidswill drink."

The problem gets more complicated when you try to  decide which 
happy, healthy and well-adjusted children,  with no obvious risk 
factors, will slip down the same  path.

In a speech delivered to the Crystal Meth Task Force  kickoff, 
Vancouver-based medical doctor and researcher  Dr. Gabor Mate argued 
the problem lies in the structure  of our society.

Mate works with the severely addicted in Vancouver's DowntownEastside.

He believes kids yearn for an extended family network  and close 
community, and become detached from those  important links before 
they've had enough time to  absorb the patterning of values.

He argues the key widespread drug abuse may lie in the  stress placed 
on modern parents, who don't have enough  time to properly socialize 
their children.

While the individual parent may not be to blame, trace  back a user's 
personal history and you will find  evidence they were searching to 
fill that void, he  said.

It's a valid theory, by Krank's estimation.

Attachment, support and belonging are important.

But, like many who have a strong case, Krank believes  Mate 
overstates the point, overlooking outside  influences.

 From movies to magazines, video games and the news,  kids, like the 
adults who raise them, are constantly  absorbing societal influences.

Watch a prime-time television show targeted at young  teens and you 
might pick up part of the problem.

One prime-time commercial currently on TV shows a group  of happy 
campers gathered around the fire, roasting  marshmallows and dipping 
them in a chocolate flavoured  alcohol.

The commercials sell a lifestyle and it's a lifestyle  attractive to 
young kids.

Aired during peak viewing hours, the message doesn't  escape prying 
eyes or ears, nor does what it means.

"People don't force kids to do stuff. What's much more  powerful is 
that it looks like fun," said Krank, noting  prevention campaigns 
have given way too much credence  to peer pressure.

His research team collected information on local drug  use, sexual 
behaviour, dating violence and a variety of  other activities, 
including what kinds of TV showskids  watched and what kinds of video 
games they played.

Whether from advertising, friends, family or any one of  the hundreds 
of influences we encounter each day,  Krank's research shows it is 
possible to measure which  teens have absorbed these messages. 
Furthermore, it is  possible to predict their likelihood of drinking 
or  doing drugs based on the degree to which those messages  are ingrained.

This fall he begins follow-up research to apply what  he's learned.

He has permission from the Vernon School District and,  resources 
permitting, plans to refine a prevention  programthat could change 
how schools and families deal  with teens and substance use.

Rather than the now all too familiar "Just Say No"  message first 
trumpeted by Nancy Reagan, Krank and his  researchers want to create 
individual messages for  individual teens.

"If you send the wrong message, you lose them," he  explained. "So if 
a teen is using, you need to give  them specific information."

The researchers will test kids using word associations  and 
questioning honed during PATH, then provide  feedback based on their findings.

"You give factual feedback to identify discrepancies  between what 
someone wants out of life and where they  actually are," he said.

It's a simple concept, but complex to deliver. The  original study 
cost half a million dollars and  countless man hours to produce.

It required researchers to intensively code and decode  answersto 
those word associations and subsequent  research to define what it meant.

Motivational interviewing work on marijuana users in  the Central 
Okanagan School District has shown him how  important it is to 
question the meaning of answers.

Ask kids what the first word that comes to mind when  they hear the 
word "bud", for example, and some will  answer "light".

To figure what that means the researcher is going to  need more questions.

"Bud light" can refer to beer, but it also refers to 
marijuana-vernacular that flies over the average  parent, cop or 
teacher faster than a craftily-coded MSN  message; and the language 
is always changing.

Over the summer, Krank will define the program. He has  hopes of 
using an Internet delivery mode, making his  information affordable 
and accessible to those that  need it.

There is also talk of a program for the university  crowd, developing 
a program that could help users  identify whether their behaviour has 
crossedthe line to  abuser.

"That's the direction we're taking all of our  programming now. 
Yougive us some information, we'll  give you some answers back on 
that information," he  said. "It's all self disclosure."

Is any of this going to prevent the kids from making it  to Doug Gray'sdoor?

It's possible-although there are many more problems and  needs than answers.

Ask Gray what would make his world simpler, he'll tell  you he needs 
a guide-someone who can deal with complex  issues, concurrent mental 
health and addictions issues  and an understanding of difficult 
family dynamics.  Someone to help navigate the system.

While Krank may not have the answers to those  questions, his 
research might one day minimize the  number of kids who make it to 
Gray's classroom. And for  those that do flounder: "There is no one 
solution, but  there are many paths to recovery," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman