Pubdate: Wed, 06 Jun 2012
Source: Penticton Western (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Penticton Western
Contact:  http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1310
Author: Steve Waldner
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?135 (Drug Education)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

PROJECT ILLUSTRATES DANGERS OF DRUGS

Voice cracking, School District 67 superintendent Wendy Hyer 
described to the crowd how she was brought in to identify the body of 
one of her students, after he had stolen drugs and a vehicle, which 
he then crashed.

The impacts of drug use, not only on the user but the community, was 
one of the main themes discussed by a panel at the launch of the 
Ecstacy: Nothing's Free project at the Shatford Centre on May 30.

"A lot of people are under the misperception that when people are 
using drugs, the harm is within that person," said the RCMP's Terri 
Kalaski, one of the project's organizers.

"The harm is all community wide, and that's one of the things we want 
people to understand."

The panel, made up of police, mental health experts and outreach 
workers along with Hyer, touched on the different areas drugs can 
impact, from one's personal performance and relationships to the 
effect drugs have on a community.

It are these impacts that the Ecstasy: Nothing's Free project aim to 
unflinchingly show to youth, in hopes they will truly understand what 
can come from drug use.

The project comes as a result of a partnership between organizations 
such as the RCMP, Interior Health, the Ministry of Children and 
Family Development and the Boys and Girls Club of the Okanagan

"We hope it engages kids and it's real, and they can see those 
consequences, and that the situations and how we're presenting them 
ring through to them, and they can say I've been there," Kalaski said.

The project has two fronts; the first being a Facebook page where 
people can get information and facts on drugs like as ecstasy. As 
well, there is an interactive graphic novel in production by Mind 
Festival Learning.

Nikos Theodosakis, one of the producers, said the organizers gave 
them permission to push the boundaries of what they could do - 
boundaries they said they feel need to be pushed, to truly reach young people.

"Our daughter said 'if you put anything in there that's not real, 
we'll turn you off.' When people come in and talk about drugs with 
(them), and they say something that doesn't work, that doesn't feel 
right to them, they just turn off." said Linda Theodosakis, Nikos' 
wife and fellow producer with Mind Festival.

The resource takes the form of a choose-your-own-adventure style 
graphic novel, where the player guides a young man named Mike through 
a party. The players are given a number of different choices, 
throughout the night, such as to do ecstasy, drink or go home.

There are a number of different streams and endings portraying some 
of the different consequences of ecstasy use. These endings range 
from Mike losing his job to, as was shown in the demo, Mike floating 
face-down in a lake by the party, his ecstasy-ridden heart to never 
pump again after being convinced by a devious she-devil to take too many pills.

The Facebook page is now live and the graphic-novel resource will 
shortly be moving into its beta, and should be live before September.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom