Pubdate: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 Source: Ingersoll Times (CN ON) Copyright: 2008 Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. Contact: http://ingersolltimes.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2387 Author: Heather Rivers Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) TASK FORCE UNLEASHES STRATEGIC PLAN Asking tough questions about drug use is at the heart of a strategic plan geared to combating substance abuse in the county. The Oxford County Drug Task Force released the "A Way Forward" plan Thursday morning at the Elmhurst Inn. The task force is a collaboration of 50 service providers, including law enforcement, education, mental health and other agencies that are coming together in an effort to respond to the substance abuse problem in the county. "Drug use is not just a big city problem," said Jason Smith, chair of the task force. "The people sitting on the task force have seen or experienced first-hand the devastating effects of substance abuse. By pooling our expertise, resources and reach in the community, the task force believes we can make a powerful impact in the lives of individuals, their families and in the community." Smith said he brought the substance abuse issue to the youth justice council's attention several years ago as a priority issue. From there, the task force was implemented. "I saw one too many kids affected by substance abuse," said Smith, who at the time worked at the Upper Deck Youth Centre in Woodstock. Eight goals identified in the strategic plan include the implementation of a comprehensive strategy, identifying substance abuse prevention as key to a sustainable community, procuring sustainable resources, advocating for co-ordinated services and increasing communication, addressing service gaps, providing information and support, building awareness and providing a continuum of enforcement options. The 75-member task force has established three working group, as part of the plan, including the prevention-working group, the treatment-working group and the enforcement-working group. The strategic plan is meant as a starting point for increased and more effective drug prevention strategies in the county. "This is only the beginning," Warden Paul Holbrough at the event said. "We'll move forward to provide many services for Oxford County in the future." OCPS Chief Ron Fraser said he was pleased to see the community become involved in a drug prevention strategy. "We are very conscious of the fact that enforcement is not the answer to the plague that drug use presents to our community," Fraser said. "Real change can only happen through the combined efforts of enforcement, prevention, treatment, community mobilization and education." OPP Commander Jack Goodlett said the OPP is committed to understanding and targeting the force's attention on those who continue to produce, manufacture and sell drugs within the county. "We have asked the tough questions and have had the dialogue that now leads us into the direction of change," Goodlett said. "If we can isolate and understand why at which moments in people's lives they first make the choice to use, and continue to aggressively investigate and target our drug manufacturer and sellers, we can change substance abuse in Oxford County." Just how prevalent drug use in Oxford County is, is hard pin down, but these facts the task force has researched are known to be true. Oxford County residents more frequently access addictions services for alcohol, cannabis, crack, prescription opiods and cocaine than in other regions of the province. The Oxford County Youth Strategy recently identified being stressed out, doing drugs and dealing with pressure from friends as the top three priorities facing youth. One-third of Oxford youth have tried drugs with the average age being 13.4 years. About 1,000 Oxford County residents are directly involved in illegal or problematic substance abuse and are known to police or one per cent of the population. The economic cost of substance abuse to a county the size of Oxford is approximately $122 million. "The critical issue here is not that Oxford County experiences substance abuse to a greater degree, or has a serious deficit in services, but that its service providers, community stakeholder and residents have decided that the impacts of substance abuse are so dire that the status quo is not good enough," said Annamaria Feltracco, the task force's consultant and research lead. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin