Pubdate: Mon, 13 Apr 2015
Source: Record, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.royalcityrecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1654
Author: Liz Monteiro
Page: A1

'JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS' IS A BUST

Police, school officials realistic about drug use by local teens, harm
reduction new goal

WATERLOO REGION - Teens huddled in a school hallway to pass around a
bottle of Mountain Dew.

It was clear to the principal watching that the plastic pop bottle
contained something else. The dead giveaway was the purple colour of
the liquid.

The teens were chugging what's known as "Purple Drank" or "sizzurp" -
a soft drink laced with prescription cough syrup codeine. A Jolly
Rancher hard candy is often added to sweeten the mix.

The drink was popularized in lyrics by American rappers including Lil
Wayne and 2 Chainz, and also Justin Bieber.

Waterloo Regional Police Const. Matthew Stauffer, a school resource
officer, was in the school at the time and spoke to the teens. One
youth had taken the prescription codeine from a sibling who was on the
medication after back surgery. He was later suspended.

Drug calls in schools are not uncommon. The Record analyzed the
locations of 4,921 drug calls that drew a police response between
2011and 2013. While some drug calls originate in the downtowns of
Kitchener, Cambridge and near the universities in Waterloo, 15 of 26
top drug hot spots are next to high schools. This includes four of the
top five locations for drug calls.

Police know curious teens are going to experiment with drugs. The drug
of choice is still marijuana, but officers are seeing students coming
to school high on crystal methamphetamine. Others at parties are
"popping mollys," a tablet form of ecstasy.

The harder drugs remain isolated cases, said Const. Braden Hill, a
resource officer who works in Kitchener's high schools.

But with crystal meth becoming easier to make in people's kitchens and
the cost dropping, police say the only way to get teens to truly
understand the hazards of drugs is to give them the cold, hard facts.

"When people know the worstcase scenario and you scare them enough,
then I find it deters them from using drugs," said Hill, who spoke to
a group of Grade 9 boys at Eastwood Collegiate Institute last week
about drug use and its harmful effects.

"They (teenagers) think they are invincible."

"Let's be real. It's going to happen. We can't say, 'no, no don't do
drugs." But we can tell them about the consequences. Ultimately, it's
their decision," Stauffer said.

During a recent drug talk to Grade 9 physical education students at
Monsignor Doyle Catholic Secondary School in Cambridge, Stauffer went
through a list of legal and illegal substances from tobacco, alcohol,
marijuana and a gamut of illicit and prescription drugs.

Most effective was showing before and after photographs of crystal
meth users who, after years of use, appear gaunt, with rotting teeth
known as "meth mouth," and often with scabs on their face from the
constant scratching to curb itchiness.

"I don't know about you, but I don't want to kiss someone like that,"
he said.

For students who attended Stauffer's talk, the thought of injecting
heroin, chewing the powder from a Fetanyl patch or crushing
prescription pills and snorting it is not part of their reality.

"It's sketchy and it looks painful," said David Cerny, 14, a Grade 9
student at Monsignor Doyle.

"I would never do hard drugs. I care about my life."

"I've smelt marijuana, but I have never seen it," said Phillip
Correia, 15. "I would never do it. I'm scared."

Police Chief Bryan Larkin said the majority of drug activity around
the region's high schools focuses on marijuana. Prescription pills are
also impacting school communities.

In the spring and fall, police often initiate drug enforcement
projects at schools to reinforce the message about illicit drugs, he
said.

"We have to recognize, too, that when people are young there is an
experimental phase that people go through, and that drives a business
opportunity for those who want to prey on young people," Larkin said.

Sgt. Mike Allard, who supervises the service's six youth resource
officers in local high schools, said there are students dealing drugs
in schools. But most often teens purchase illegal drugs from people
they know and attend school with them.

"Rarely do we have dealers hanging outside school dealing drugs on the
corner," he said.

That's why it's so imperative to have officers walk the hallways of
high schools and get to know the teens, he said. Ninety per cent of
high school students will try some sort of drug at least once, he said.

"All we can do is offer the education," said Allard, referring to the
drugs talks done by officers in schools. "If we can get through to
some of the kids and then when they are offered something, they'll
say, 'no way, I'm not trying that.'''

When it comes to discouraging teens from trying harder drugs, "just
say no" hasn't worked, Larkin added. That war-on-drugs campaign, which
emerged in the 1980s, was not a successful approach, he said.

Instead, police, regional public health officials, social services
agencies and the school boards have sat around a table discussing a
drug strategy that focuses on harm reduction.
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MAP posted-by: Matt