Pubdate: Mon, 09 Jun 2008
Source: Prince George Citizen (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 Prince George Citizen
Contact:  http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/350
Author: Frank Peebles

PROGRAMS WARN KIDS OF DANGER USING DRUGS

Some kids are wiser to drugs these days, but police in  the schools
said younger grades are still blessedly  ignorant. They are
vulnerable, however, without  parental involvement and strong
education which is why  an old program and two brand new ones are
being  presented to students by the local RCMP.

"I find at the Grade 5 level I find they are mostly  still pretty
naive; they don't often know what a joint  is, what pot means," said
Prince George RCMP Const.  Debbie Medcke who leads the city's DARE
Program, or  Drug Abuse Resistance Education. "At Grade 6 or 7, oh
yeah, they are pretty smart about that. By Grade 7 for  sure, and they
also have the attitude, too."

The attitude is the gravest concern. It is the bravado  of youth. It
may not be a negative or rebellious  outlook on life, just a sense of
their own independence  but without the context of social danger.
Organized  crime has a team of foot soldiers in the city, street
dealers, and they prey on schoolyards where they can  find that
attitude in someone looking for a little  adventure or escape.

"A lot of people have heard drug names like jib and ice  for crystal
meth, but how about strawberry quick or  cherry blast? Who do you
think these names appeal to?,"  said Prince George RCMP Const. Lesley
Dix, in charge of  the city's community policing initiatives,
including a  new one aimed at older kids on the effects of drugs,  and
another for older grades on the gang industry.

It doesn't take long, once those vulnerable kids are  found, to turn
them into regular customers, then to  indebted customers, then into
virtual slaves who are  forced to do everything from sexual favours
for adults,  violence on others, robberies, recruiting more kids  into
addiction, and other dirty deeds. The weaker the  supports at home,
the easier it is to lure them into  gang servitude.

Dix said the gang-associated life comes with some  exciting and
comforting promises. She is introducing a  new education module for
high schools that talks  frankly about the growing gang culture in the
area.

"North District calls our new program The Three Biggest  Lies but I
also call it The Truth Behind The Promises,"  said Dix. "The three
biggest lies are that you will  have a sense of belonging to a family
where you will be  safe if you are in the gang; they offer you a sense
of  protection; and the third lie is they promise you  respect."

The truth is, said Dix, being in a gang or even just  friends with
people in a gang raises your risk of  getting seriously hurt or
killed. Unlike a family,  which will sacrifice as a group for the
benefit of the  one, gangs demand that each member sacrifice for the
benefit of the whole, so there is no real belonging to  anything
except a parasite stronger than you are. The  third lie is about
respect: fear is really what gangs  foster and no one will regard you
well if fear is the  root feeling, no one will ever trust you.

"Money is the biggest reason gangs recruit from  elementary schools
and especially high schools," she  said. "They are looking for
possible customers for  their product. We want to warn students about
that  before the gangs get them. All they want you to do for  them is
buy drugs, or be a drug mule. If you become  their mule, you are
responsible for making a certain  amount of money. If you don't make
that much, watch  out. If you make more than that amount, you will be
expected to make that much every time, so if you can't  get that much,
you owe them. If you were supposed to  bring back $500 and you only
brought back $400, you owe  them $100."

It not only can happen in Prince George, this is  exactly what is
happening to dozens of teens working  today peddling dope in the local
community, trying to  stay ahead of the demands of the gang leaders.
When  they fall behind in their money, they have to resort to
stealing, breaking into homes, selling their bodies for  sex, hurting
people, extorting from even their own  families, and other tactics of
desperation.

"They are old enough at that age to make their own  choices, but
vulnerable enough to make bad choices with  consequences they are
forced to live with," said Dix.

Medcke said she is absolutely certain the DARE  information is having
a positive result, if not for the  entire student population, at least
for some individual  kids who might have gotten lost in drugs but
thanks to  their education, managed to make safer choices.

"Grade 5, that's a really great age," she said. "You  still have the
chance to give them information and you  can still steer them in the
right direction; their  minds are not made up about what paths they
are going  to take, so we work on showing them the right road. It  can
be a slippery slope after that, especially with the  kids who don't
have the home support to make choices  that keep them away from drugs
and the eventual fate of  ending up in jail in a few years, or worse.
But I truly  believe it doesn't matter who or what the parent is - a
parent who is into trouble or into drugs themselves -  they still want
the best for their children. They don't  want their kids to go down
the paths they did. Those  are the parents who know what's waiting for
them, and  they know that it is a hard thing to get out of once  you
are in. They are the ones who especially need help  for their kids."

Medcke, with the help of Constables Trask and Van  Hussen, got to 22
elementary schools this school year  (more than 700 kids total), which
is almost all of  them. Her goal is 100 per cent of city elementary
schools next year.

Dix said the new gang program for high schools has not  yet started in
this area, but is about ready to go  either late this school year or
early in fall.

Both Mounties said it is never too late or too early to  talk to your
own kids at home about how choices in  front of them can lead to
positive results in life or  towards the desperation and pain of gang
life. There is  no difference anymore, in Prince George, between doing
  drugs and being gang involved. Virtually all drugs are  controlled by
some faction of organized crime.
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