Paige Desmond
With the annual Homecoming football game taking to the field tomorrow, and Friday being a P.D. Day for district students, no doubt many parents are hoping their teens have absorbed safe partying tips from three local programs aimed at ensuring teen alcohol use is done safely.
D.A.R.E., P.A.R.T.Y., and the Rainy River District Substance Abuse Prevention Team have been working across the district to get the message of safe partying out.
“We all work together,” said Fort Frances OPP Cst. Anne McCoy, referring to D.A.R.E., parents, schools, and community groups.
It’s clear teens are indulging in alcohol and drugs based on information those very youth have provided.
For instance, the 2007 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, an Ontario-wide survey of 6,323 students in Grades 7-12, showed that just over 61 percent of students had used alcohol in the past year, with a little over 26 percent saying they participated in binge drinking in the past year.
In addition, more than a quarter of teens had smoked marijuana and nearly 21 percent had used opioid pain relievers, such as oxycontin, for non-medical purposes.
The survey, conducted by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, went further, providing stark statistics for Northern Ontario specifically.
“Compared to the province as a whole, Northern Ontario students are more likely to smoke cigarettes, binge drink, [and] use alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine, crack, ecstasy, opioid pain relievers, and any illicit drug, excluding cannabis,” it noted.
Locally, those in the know confirm these findings. Paramedic John Beaton said the number of accidents or incidents related to drugs and alcohol in the district is substantial.
“For years we’ve had the highest rate of alcohol abuse in Ontario,” Beaton remarked, noting the statistic included adults.
Typically, these incidences include injuries from alcohol-fuelled fights, issues of over-consumption, bad reactions to drugs or alcohol, and bike accidents related to booze.
At the same time, the combined usage of drugs and alcohol in the same instance—something Beaton sees—can increase the likelihood of something going wrong.
Hugh Dennis, with the Rainy River District Substance Abuse Prevention Team, agreed the issue of drugs and alcohol use in the community is no big secret. “Our young people are going to experiment,” he admitted.
Dennis, the former detachment commander for the Fort Frances OPP, said it used to be that students were not experimenting until at least Grade 7 or 8. Now it is Grade 5 or 6.
Beaton attributed the problem of alcohol use amongst teens to peer pressure and the example set out by parents. Calling it a “monkey see, monkey do” situation, he believes watching parents participate in no other activities but drinking merely impresses upon kids that drinking is normal.
“The kids don’t know how to get out there and entertain themselves” because they have not seen their parents do anything different, he explained.
At the same time, peer pressure and the idea that binge drinking is “cool” factor in, as well. “It’s sort of that whole alcohol culture,” Beaton remarked.
Still, Dennis is sure “it is possible to change cultures, to change mindsets.” And that’s exactly what these groups are trying to do.
Beaton noted dangerous incidents are decreasing from a few years ago and credited the various programs for having something to do with it, though admitting it is “hard to track how these programs work.”
D.A.R.E. reaches children of all ages in the district, teaching them about the reality of drug and alcohol use, as well as safety issues.
Cst. McCoy noted how students often perceive that more kids are partying than are in reality. She tries to change these perceptions through the D.A.R.E. program.
“It’s okay to say ‘no.’ It makes the kids reassured that they’re making the right choice,” she explained.
All three groups aim to give young people choices—or more importantly, the tools they need to make smart and safe choices. “What you’re teaching them is life,” said Cst. McCoy. “That it’s easier to not get into the problem in the first place.”
The local Substance Abuse Prevention Team, meanwhile, promotes responsible partying and looking out for each other in party situations. “We’re promoting responsible drinking notwithstanding of age,” Dennis noted.
They approach underage drinking not as a legal issue, but as a health issue to try and get their message across. “This is a health thing; that they can die,” he stressed.
Often, the SAPT brings in former addicts, who are relatively young, to talk with kids about hitting rock bottom and the real consequences that can come from addictions and unsafe partying.
Dennis outlined the importance of peers being involved in these harm reduction efforts because no youth really wants a partying lecture from a parent or similar authority figure. “We need to bring young people to talk to young people,” he remarked.
For his part, Beaton also is the co-ordinator of the local P.A.R.T.Y. program, which takes Grade 10 students, as per the curriculum, through hospital emergency room procedures they would experience if ever in any type of accident.
The goal is to give kids the reality of being in the emergency room, such as having their $80 jeans cut off, being hooked up to an I.V., or losing the ability to feed themselves.
In addition, the students hear from the survivors of an accident—whether it be a victim’s parent, friend, or other relative. Though not to upset the kids too badly, the goal is to send home the reality of the consequences of bad decision-making.
“That really hits home,” Beaton said.
Beaton, Dennis, and Cst. McCoy all said the support of the community has been essential in the effectiveness of these programs, whether it be through donations, sponsorship, or just spreading the word.
So while it’s highly unlikely teens will ever stop experimenting with alcohol and drugs, the experts will keep working towards harm reduction awareness.
