Talking about tough issues

Talking about tough issues

Local News
LSRCSS students learned some hard lessons during Addictions Awareness Week
By Jennifer Pawluk
Posted 2 days ago


Students at the Comp were confronted head-on with the dangers of substance abuse throughout Addictions Awareness Week Nov. 15 to 22.

Last Thursday, Jan Harris, a youth counsellor with the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba's Selkirk office, arranged for Laurie Magee to address Grades 10 to 12 students. Magee is a psychiatric nurse and manager of the Methadone Intervention and Needle Exchange (MINE) program based in Winnipeg. With her, Magee brought a patient of the MINE program to share his story of addiction and recovery.

think kids relate to someone willing to share their story," said Harris, noting emotional impact resonates with teenagers far longer than lists of information. "They really value what other people have experienced."

"(Addiction) is such a huge issue in our society," she continued. "It's horrible, but the impact is huge."

"Kids need to have the information to make safe and healthy choices," added Harris.

Magee spoke of the increasingly widespread turmoil opioid addiction, including painkiller and prescription drug abuse, is causing across Canada today; even among young people.

"It's people like yourself," she told the students during her presentation. "It's people with - if you want to call it - accidental addiction."

"And it is taking people's lives down very fast," she continued.

Lives such as those of one of her MINE program clients, who later shared his experience with Comp students but did not wish to have any identifying details printed in the Journal.

"For the rest of my life, I'm going to be a recovering drug addict," he said.

"I'm always going to fight the battle. So if you ever are handed some pills - anything like that - if you ever do get addicted, just know you're going to be addicted for the rest of your life. It's not something that just ends. It doesn't go away. I have to fight the urge every single day."

"And, you know, I've had days where people have put pills back in my hands," he continued. "You just have to suck it up and say no."

"There's nothing in a pill that can make life stop," he stressed. "And that took me about four-and-a-half years to realize."

"I discovered that shame was what kept me using for so long," he added. "The lying, the stealing, realizing the truth. And what it is, I had something inside me, I had an issue I hadn't dealt with."

After a tumultuous struggle with opioid addiction, he is now undergoing methadone treatment and has been clean from needles for one year.

"There's great support systems all over the place," he concluded.

"If you have a problem, talk to somebody," he urged his captive audience.

That message was upheld at other related addictions awareness activities hosted at the Comp last week, including a skit performed by the drama class last Friday.

Original link:

http://www.selkirkjournal.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2860624