Pubdate: Mon, 03 Jun 2013
Source: Guardian, The (CN PI)
Copyright: 2013 The Guardian, Charlottetown Guardian Group Incorporated
Contact:  http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/174
Author: Steve Sharratt

REEL IN THE DEALERS, DRUG FORUM TOLD

Panellists Say Island Youths Can Be Better Protected by Everyone 
Working Together

MONTAGUE - Provincial court judges need to get tough on drug dealers 
and doctors and dentists need to reel in the prescriptions if youth 
drug use is going to be curtailed, an addiction forum was advised 
here recently.

Drug use will never go away, but a panel of facilitators insisted 
Island youth could be better protected against the cornucopia of 
insidious offerings causing even greater addictions.

"There was a time when marijuana and alcohol were the greatest 
concern, and then it grew to cocaine and opiates, and now I'm dealing 
with students using needles," said Tyler Larter, guidance counsellor 
at Colonel Gray High School in Charlottetown.

The event was hosted by Mike Redmond, leader of the New Democratic 
Party, and featured, along with others, such front-line workers as 
Larter and Rev. Scott MacIsaac, former addict and provincial chaplain 
at the Sleepy Hollow jail and federal institutions.

"Students tell me they are turning to drugs from stress pressures, 
chaotic home situations and peer influences," said Larter.

"We see kids who never had a friend in junior high start smoking 
marijuana to be accepted at high school and the parents wonder what's 
worse ... sitting in a room alone for five years or having friends 
and smoking pot?"

MacIsaac, who works every day with addicts, said even the 
establishment of a long-term youth rehabilitation facility on P.E.I. 
would change little since the addict has to choose to stop.

"I heard an interview recently where a young lady talking about her 
addiction suggested the government pay for new drugs for her so she 
could stay addicted?" he said.

"How insane it that? We have to get a grip on the realities ... no 
long-term residence, no long-term program and no parents' love will 
change anything unless the addict says, 'I'm stopping'."

The gathering of around 30 people at Red's Corner also heard the face 
of drug users is changing fast.

Larter said some students are suddenly dealing with depression and no 
friends because of taking a stance against drugs.

"One student told me he had no one to hang out with, that all his 
friends smoke marijuana, and he didn't want to do it. Here he is 
doing something right and being shunned ... I had never heard of that 
until this year."

Larter said the gamut of drug use is crossing socio-economic 
boundaries like never before these days, from low-income and 
low-esteem students to those earning high marks and playing elite hockey.

"I think we're failing miserably, the government is failing miserably 
and judges really have to get tougher on dealers," he said.

"Police gather all the evidence after three or four years on a dealer 
and the judge says it's a first offence so let's give him probation . 
no one charged with dealing drugs is committing a first offence."

Larter said doctors and dentists are also handing out pills at 
alarming rates, which only increases the availability of Percocet and 
Oxycontin.

"When I was a kid and you got your wisdom teeth out, your mother gave 
you a Tylenol and told you to go to your room."

But while there is a problem with drugs, MacIsaac said the extent 
shouldn't be inflated.

"I live every day with addiction, but my fear is in seeking a 
solution, we do not base it on potential success. Addiction is not a 
crime ... it's a disease, and unlike choosing not to have cancer, we 
can choose not to be addicted."

The chaplain said the biggest barrier to the recovery of addiction is 
"siloism": so many various agencies and government departments - with 
many excellent personnel - that have yet to solve a way to work 
together for the benefit of the addict.

"We need more programs, we need to get into the schools earlier, and 
we could have the best recovery program for youth ever ... but it 
takes everyone working together. You will never do away with 
addictions or stop drugs on P.E.I. But it's not the impossible dream."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom