Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 24/01) - Parents can influence their teen's decisions about alcohol and drugs, said speakers at a parent information session at St. Patrick high school Monday evening.

Const. Paul Joy suggested parents let teens (older than 16) ride along with police for a night to show them the effects of drug and alcohol addiction. - Jennifer McPhee/NNSL photo

"When students are asked what keeps them from using drugs and alcohol, they say that their parents would not approve," said school counsellor Liz Parsons. "They are listening in the back of their minds even if they won't admit it."

Garth Brasseur said half the students in his Grade 9 health class at St. Pat's claim to have tried marijuana -- sometime between grades 6 and 8. Brasseur believes marijuana has higher THC levels than ever before.

"I've seen students shaking from withdrawal," he said. "And I didn't see that four or five years ago."

Brasseur also said students with drug problems often come to school to find someone to smoke drugs with, skip their next few classes and may return later in the day.

"If you see this attendance pattern, 95 per cent of the time they have a drug problem," he said.

Stealing, dealing drugs, health problems and the refusal to stop when confronted are signs of the later stages of drug addiction.

Karen Brown, a drug and alcohol counsellor, works with youth in the late stages of addiction at the Tree of Peace.

She also works part-time in a mostly preventative role at St. Pat's. A former teenage addict, Brown said it was her mother's words and constant presence that saved her. "Don't stop talking to your kids about drugs and alcohol," she said.

RCMP Const. Paul Joy said many kids with addiction problems have unsupportive parents. "Nobody is there for them," he said.

When Joy brings in an intoxicated teenager, he calls parents immediately. "But it's hard to get parents to come down," he said. Joy recommended that parents let teens ride along in a police cruiser for a night to show them the effects of drug and alcohol addiction.

And, like the other speakers, he urged parents not to keep talking to their kids.

"They may be in denial, but deep down they are absorbing it," he said.