leduc straight talk“If you don’t think Timmins has a drug problem, you need to think again.”

“Straight Talk on Drugs” looked to be a grand success, with more than 300 people in attendance at the Dante Club Tuesday night.

Timmins Police Constable Matt Beerman spearheaded the night, and says no family in town hasn’t been touched by drug abuse.

He says as parents, “we need to know what kind of temptations our students are facing.”

“When I was in high school, the drug scene was much much different than it is today.”

Many guest speakers took to the podium to discuss the different facets of drug culture.

From Yvonne McClinchey at the South Cochrane Addiction Services, to Constable Ryan Farrell from the TPS Drug Enforcement Unit and Gary Leduc, who witnessed first hand what it was like to raise a son who ended up engulfed by drugs and addiction.

Parents also heard from George Couchie of the Nipissing First Nation, who is also a 33-year veteran of the police force.

If you have 15-20 minutes, listen to Leduc’s story, going from his own story of recovery at a young age to helping his son Kyle achieve the same.

His message is that if you have suspicions about your child, wait up for them at night and talk to them when they get home.  More importantly, don’t hammer them to admit they were using, but help them early on before they get in too deep.

If that doesn’t get to you, here’s some stats that was picked up from teenchallenge.ca:

  • The average age that drug use begins is 15.7 years old
  • 23% of Ontario schools report that they were offered, sold or given a drug at school in the last year (That’s about 219,000 students)
  • 42% of Ontario students surveyed have used an illicit substance in the last year
  • 60% of illicit drug users in Canada are between the ages of 15 and 24
  • Among the over 100,000 drug-related incidents identified by police in 2007, 62% involved cannabis.  Of these, 3/4 were for possession

Some local stats as well:

  • Cochrane Addicitons Services have received 15 referrals from local schools in the last school year alone
  • 12 people have overdosed on Fentanyl in Timmins since 2010 (another 12 died from usage)
  • The Porcupine Health Unit handed out 51,000 needles from January to May 2015