Canadian Group Holds Meth Awareness School Assemblies
June 19th, 2009 by Russ
As a child of the 80s, I have vivid memories of a “Just Say No” campaign that introduced the dangers of crack-cocaine to a group of seven-year-olds in my second grade class. It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same. In response to a widely spreading crystal meth epidemic among street youth, British Columbia is taking its fight back into the classroom.
The Crystal Meth Society of British Columbia holds school assemblies for grade school children of various ages, and doesn’t pull many punches in doing so. One of the main features of their performance is a grizzly video entitled, Death by Jib.
According to one parent:
After watching Death by Jib I wanted to immediately take the video home to show my teenagers. There is something in this video for everyone.
That is, assuming your teenagers enjoy watching grizzly youth deaths brought on by inopportune abuse of a hallucinogen. It’s hard to look at Canada’s Drug Aware101 program and see anything markedly different from the D.A.R.E tactics that have been in American schools for decades.
As several studies have shown, most D.A.R.E programs either have a completely negligible effect on the children’s likeliness to try new drugs, or actually can cause them to be more likely to experiment with drugs. As many drug academics and former law enforcement have argued, it’s often much more effective to simply inform kids about the realities of the drug world, rather than trying ot inflate or exaggerate the dangerous in an attempt to scare them. American kids seem to be a great deal more discerning than these drug educational programs give them credit for. It remains to be seen whether the same can be said of young Canadiens.
In the meantime, The Crystal Meth Society of BC will endeavor to be “crystal clear” about the realities of a very dangerous substance.
