Drug use and. ‘By MARGARET SPEIRS _ . NORTHWEST YOUTH are using drugs at tyoung- . er and younger ages. Crystal meth and ecitasy are two drugs being used at the Grade 8 level, but children as young © as seven and eight havé used crystal’ meth, ‘said - Const. Craig Douglass, assist drug awareness co- . ofdinator of the North District Drug Awareness _ Service i in Prince George. , “He said he wouldn’t be surprised. if this was '.” also.true in. Terrace. ara aaa area i During a recent talk in Prince Rupert, Doug- lass told a group ‘of concerned parents that drug -educators usually go into the schools at the Grade 10 level, and end up being told things by the stu- . Laon DeRer tae hore cuede ge fh) G3GS wn dents. -:1/To help reach students earlier, the Ministry of Education wrote up new curriculums last sum- | mer, which will be mandatory i in the next school . year, for Grades 7,8,9 with a component requiring © a certain ‘number of hours be taught about drugs and healthy situations. This will allow drug educators to reach stu- ' dents before drugs become an issue for them, ’ Douglass said. * The most disturbing image he. presented to Prince Rupert parents was a photo of a meth ad-. dict; face blacked out, with two gaping holes down ‘to the bone in both arms. preoccupied with a.task. “Everybody” S$ psychosis i is going t to be a little. different,” he said, adding. this i isn t a typical act, buti is quite common. - While tweaking, people will: keep repeating . ‘that same act until the drug wears off, which,he believes can take from eight to 16 hours, although ~ he said: toxicologists say. one. dose, can last 20 to -_ “important for: parents! to: help: them kick: the habit. - 24 hours. 5 * 13-year-old girl in ‘Victoria who died from an Ec- stasy pill she took on the first day.of this school year, he believes the same situation does ‘happen in the northwest. ‘The younger that’ children use drugs, the more While Douglass can’t say y specifically whether any northwest teens have died from drugs, like a ‘ing drugs, abandon them. CONST. CHRIS Rusnak holds one’ ‘of 100 marijuana plants. ‘seized from a grow-op ‘in’ a Thornhill residence basement it in May 2004. Police . want Parents to be aware that northwest youth are: using egal drugs at younger and 1 younger ages. Bo” rising among at has police worries FILE PHOTO - oung 7 chances they. have of aying in their ir youth, the c con- ‘stable added. , Parents need to. let their children know: that drug use isn’t acceptable. The more parents keep 2 ‘their ‘children away’ from. ‘drugs, the less likely « The’ addict picked through the flesh while “ ‘tweaking’, a’stage after the rush of the drug and ~ before the crash when people: become: singularly , they are to follow their peers into drug use, said - Douglass. « “Bea parent. Set rules and enforce the rules. It ' doesn’t matter how good your kid is, crystal meth _ is open and available to them,” he said. fay -“Your-child could ‘be the best Student in | school [but] if their friends want to use drugs | -and alcohol, they’re likely to. Their friends are. the number one influence at that age group.” However, if: a: child: does itake drugs it’s a : “A lot of. families, once their kids start us-". “That’s one of the worst things they can do because it pushes them (their kids) toward drugs and they need their family’ sand friends’ support for them to beat it,” said Douglass. Southern organized crime gangs | DESPITE A recent report from police alluding to the presence of 120 gangs _ in the province, locals don’ t have to start worrying that gang members may be next door. Terrace doesn’t have gangs here i in town, said Corporal Tom Seaman, an RCMP E Division media relations officer stationed on the Lower. Mainland. .. - “There are no actual identified organized criminal gangs operating out of _ Terrace to.my knowledge, however Terrace, like most communities, is af- fected by organized crime,” he said. - Drug dealers in town may identify themselves as a gang. or something similar, he said, but no specific gang calls Terrace home and operates Pro- . vincially, he said. . “However we know that drugs are in Terrace like every ‘other community and organized crime and organized criminal gangs are responsible for that,” he said. Drug dealers are “organized” only in the sense that a. roup of people comes together and decides to grow and sell illegal drugs in Terrace, he 7 said. . a ‘like money laundering. orfronts. ., : have yet to set up shop i in northwest _ - Organized « crime has disteidutors; growers and importers, which i is how ; ‘drugs get into a community, he said. | Seaman said organized crime is involved i in all kinds of illegal activities . There are several: ‘ways of doing this including using legitimate businesses : sae. “A lot of cash is made on. illegal drugs to hide it and clean it? ” he’said. - "Drug: gangs have taken some hits on the Lower Mainland, he said, such as: tion 7, the raids on the Hells Angels last Tuly as the result ofa two-year investiga- : ~~. “When we take someone down, more follow suit because there i is so much. and more areas. b money to be made in illegal drugs,” Seaman said.’ The gang police report concentrates on organizations such a as the Helis ° ' Angels-and its affiliates, warning that. their presence is being felt in more Chaos and conflict i is forecast — IT TAKES two quarts of oil to produce two pounds. ; of breakfast cereal and that’s far too much, says an author and consultant who warns that the world _ can’t continue: using natural resources at. the cure rent rate. Vancouver-resident Roy Woodbridge, who spoke here recently, says the ever-increasing world economic demand for rapidly depleting - - Woodbridge. natural resources will lead to widespread chaos and conflict. “While we’re being caught up in competing. '. with each other, we’re creating the basis for a ca- taStrophe of immense proportions,” he said. ~ “Tn our quest do something about global pov- erty, we're increasing the consumption of our natural capital to the point that by 2025, we’re go- ing to need the equivalent of two or three Earths | to continue. And we can’t do that,” Woodbridge continued. What’s required iramediately is a massive shift to far smarter and technologically-advanced uses © of natural resources and procedures in how they can be used, he added. A change to drip irrigation, whereby crops are fed just the amount of moisture and nutrients they need instead of massive sprinkler systems would i s ‘reduce ‘the. demand on. water, the world’s. most “ precious resource. “Our present: .pat- tem of water use is unsustainable. Up. to _one-third. of our pres-. ent water withdrawals are unsustainable,” said . “It’s not only water. Look at oil. We’re now at peak oil production. It'can only last another 10 or 200 years so we’re there already. How will a community such as Terrace cope with the decline in fossil fuels? Are we even thinking about it?” he asked. ' Woodbridge’s catastrophic forecast pits the de- veloped world against the undeveloped one. | _ “There are: three. billion people in the under- _ Class and they are going to want the resources,” Roy Woodbridge he said. “We've got to make a decision to change to which kind of war we want to fight. I call it the provisioning challenge and it’s going to require an as natural resources decline "all out effort, ” said Woodbridge: “What we have to do is figure 0 out how to give our sociéties the capacity not just to survive, but : fo thrive.” “The debate up antil now ; has aitted g growth against. the environment. It’s a necessary debate but it divorces the debate we need to undertake on how human greed affects us as individuals,” said . Woodbridge. ‘Unlike other thinkers \ on the global i issues. of. poverty and resource use, Woodbridge believes the free market system of world trade’ and eco- - -nomic development can provide solutions if di- ” -rected and encouraged properly. That stems from past involvements on. eco- nomic development projects in Africa, a past po- -. Sition as the director of the Mining Association of Canada and his current occupation as a consultant specializing business development i in the environ-- mental field. “T’m a free market kind of guy, but with a real ‘concern about where the free markets are taking us. You could call me a conflicted free market guy,” said Woodbridge. ' It also identifies gangs based along ethnic lines, including people of Viet- m ” namese and East Indian n origin. SR 7 a ‘| DearSir: by. 20 per cent in the new year, I have to comment. ; _». Ima free ‘market, ‘supply and demand are supposed. oO. dictate price. While PNG is left with a supply: surplus due. 7 to Methanex cancelling their. contract with. PNG, 'the cost’. of gas to consumers. should be g going down, not up. ‘Wheré. does PNG get off using a “revenue requirement” as an ex: *. _ cuse to. gouge customers yet again? You can read PNG’s ; application for a rate increase online by. going to: 2 http://www.png. ca/pdf/PNGWest2006Rev- . RegAppNov_: 30_05.pdfi . b The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - AS CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD - Stay i in Yellowknife. Dear Sir: : .I didn’t know if I should be amused;or insulted after reading the recent letter from Michelle Green regarding the four-day week. - , She says she will not honour: Terrace with her and her ‘family’ s presence because of the four-day day. school | week. She refuses to move here because she will not have her children in, professional daycare.(school) five days a | _ week. She readily admits that her son requires “constant” _adult supervision, and it sounds like her daughter needs the same. The trustees of the, school board have a lot on their plate as it is, and yet this woman wants to add to their fi- nancial burden by supplying one on one caregivers for her children. |1 say, to Ms. Green — stay in Yellowknife until _ such time as you are ready to take some responsibility for raising your own children, Don’t expect the taxpayers in’ ’ Coast Mountains School District to act as babysitters for .-you for five days a week while you.work. In regard to the four-day school week. I-don’t_ agree with it, and Iam sure the trustees of the school board have | misgivings as well. They are charged with the responsibil: ity of doing the best job they can with the resources they” have. We recently had elections for trustees, and if my — - memory serves me well, not.a single incumbent trustee’ Was ‘defeated, so: the voters in Coast Mountains School , District must. still. have faith in their trustees. _ James B. ‘Ippel, ‘Terrace; BA rom __No more. closures . Dear Sir: : Atthe January meeting of the Coast Mountains School ~ : District; the board was ‘treated to'a’ presentation, from “the Terrace Economic Development, ‘Authority: (TEDA). « Their brief to the district was to the effect that they’ have - ‘perceived a perception amongst development types: down - » south that our four-day, school week is ‘problematic for. | some of their southern’ confreres. They. were. asking. the board to publicly commit to pursuing a return to a five day © calendar as their principal priority. = ‘One trustee had the wit to.ask. “where’ s the cheque?” . And that’s basically what it amounts to: .the four-day week : (as well as multiple school closures) was a direct result of - ‘deliberate underfunding of rural B.C.’s education efforts.» ~ by, the gang in Victoria. ‘Give us adequate resources and . we'll revert to the five-day week pronto, but if the options = “are five-day week vs: more closures — no. way, ‘TEDA!: °° “There is a wide spread perception in B.C. that the bissi- ness and development communities enjoy. privileged’ ac- | -cess to and benefits from the Campbell regime. Perhaps. our fine corporate citizens could use that infl -enice to lobby the Liberals into giving us a workable fund ing. formula that meets all the needs: of. our. ‘educational : efforts. , “John How, Lakelse Lake, B. .C: - It’s about adding value Dear Sir: . What. Gord Lechner and Helmut Giesbrecht miss in a my recent.column on forestry is that the: challengeiisinot about. log. exports but rather, how: to build an-industry | that. ° “is value’ not volume. based. ‘The’ issue is how to make sure | the right logs are going to the right mills, making the right : products for the marketplace.. It is not about supporting large corporations, but rather . . how do you encourage and support‘ the development of “new ‘and. smaller community-based value-added _ forest -‘businesses. How do we ensure the incentives are in place that encourages the expansion ‘of the value-added forest sector? How do we putin place the incentives that allow those new entrants into the business to accéss the. kind of log they need to'meet their. customer and product de> a ‘mands, The Jegislation’ that. they. want pat in n place ise exact! what has ‘been there for the-last' 50, years, in B. on Our i in. dustry has. not developed much: past.t the. primary: break down stage: os moe “Most of us buy. furnitire: from countries like. Swéden . and Norway. We: have to ask ourselves why, with: our, wealth i in the forests, ‘has our. industry n not evolved i in the: same manner. syle s ire erat cut it, Gord, the. provincial election i is. over. Tm pa it.’ “Maybe it’s time you moved on, too.:- -lfwe continue to let politics stifle discussion, how a a . we every find real solutions for real problems? :.: ws ~ Roger Harris, Terrace, B. Cc. Where do they get on? ' Regarding PN G's approval to increase natural gas rates. ‘Interestingly enough, even though PNG i is’ losing ‘thei biggest customer, ‘they’ re’ ‘projecting | their cost, of labour, we ‘company benefits, maintenance; to’ actually: increase in» ~° 2006 over 2005. /You' would expect the : cost | of Tabour, » _ etc..to go down with less demand. : _ Q ‘Unless’ my poor brain is wrong, it seems: tome that util . ity companies will use any excuse they can to raise prices. ° - Low supply? Charge customers more. Lose your ‘Diggest, ne customer? Charge customers more: “Tt amazes me‘ how in our present political climate, ay : people on social assistance are looked down on as ‘second. ‘| class citizens, yet we are willing to accept corporate wel-« a ‘| fare as a necessary evil, especially. when the corporation: _is the only game in town. i ww - Perhaps this is why you see more é and more chimneys: 1 spewing wood smoke every year in the Terrace areas . _, Kristy Simpson, Terrace, B B, ic. mo . "About the Mail Bag - The Terrace Standard welcomes letters: Our address ~ is 3210.Clinton St.,. Terrace, B.C. V8G 5R2.. You can "fax us at 250-638-8432. or e-mail us at newsroom@: _terracestandard.com. No attachments, please. . ; address and phone number required for verification. — wv - ae