The Agriplex was packed Monday night as Lakeland residents gathered to support safety initiatives in the region at the Lakeland Safety 1st Safety Gala. The evening's festivities featured presentations from two different speakers: Louise Knox, the former president of MADD Canada, and injury prevention expert Dr. Louis Francescutti. Five years ago, Knox's 16-year-old son, Mike, was coming home from work when a drunk driver swerved into his lane, hit his vehicle and killed him instantly. "Instead of picking out universities, we were picking out caskets," said Knox. "Instead of deciding on music to play at his wedding, we had to pick out music to play at his funeral." [continues 711 words]
It's nice to see some of Alberta's politicians taking a stand against the infiltration of methamphetamines into their communities. For those who don't know, two private member's bills aimed at cracking down on meth use are currently under consideration by the Alberta Legislature. The first was introduced by Red Deer MLA Mary Ann Jablonski. If passed, it will allow parents to force their drug addicted children into treatment, a valuable tool parents have been asking for for some time. [continues 412 words]
Bonnyville residents gathered at the French cultural centre Thursday to learn about how to deal with drug use in families. "We've had some wonderful experiences with our family and some really bad experiences in our family," said Yvonne Allan. "I hope that some of the things that have gone on with us will help other people." Allan took some time to walk around Bonnyville before giving her presentation and said it didn't take her long to find someone who'd been affected by a family member's drug use. In fact, the second person she met had a child involved with crystal meth. [continues 975 words]
If you've been hiding under a rock somewhere and haven't noticed that Bonnyville's drug problem affects the whole community, it's time to climb out of your hiding place. Just read the story on the previous page. In amongst all the questions you'd expect a Grade 6 student to ask Bonnyville's new mayor and council, was a question on what council is doing about drug dealers. The student who asked it said she was afraid to walk to her home one day because the house next door is full of drug dealers and there was a man with a bat in the front yard who looked menacing. Afraid to walk past him, she sought refuge in a neighbour's house instead. [continues 386 words]
He was the Canadian heavyweight champion for 21 years, fought all the big names in boxing like Ali, Frazier and Foreman, and is in the World Boxing Hall of Fame, but that's not what George Chuvalo came to Bonnyville to talk about. In fact, little of Chuvalo's presentation, made to high school students from all over the Bonnyville area at Bonnyville centralized high school on Wednesday, had to do with his boxing career at all. Instead it served simply as the background to what Chuvalo considers an important message to bring to young people - not to get involved with drugs. [continues 1296 words]
People who are criticizing the federal government's plans to soften the penalties for possession of marijuana aren't looking at things properly because if they were, they'd realize it was the right thing to do. If you're caught with pot, the changes mean you'll only face a fine and not a criminal record. "Hey, aren't alcohol and cigarettes at the centre of the most preventable health care diseases? Wouldn't adding smoking pot only make that problem much worse?" you might ask, adding "And isn't decriminalizing possession of the equivalent of 15 joints of pot while still maintaining the criminalization of growing and trafficking sending mixed and confusing messages to the public?" you might ask. [continues 409 words]
The packed room at the Bonnyville Senior Citizen's Drop-In Centre was a good start to dealing with the drug abuse situation affecting the community. But any effort to reduce the prevalence of drugs like crystal meth in the community has to address the entire spectrum of substance abuse because the moment you allow exceptions, you start creating loopholes in logic. The message got through to those in the audience -- if you're going to get to the root of the problem of crystal meth in Bonnyville, you can't ignore other substance abuse issues, including smoking and alcohol and the ongoing normalization of marijuana. [continues 353 words]
