SASKATOON – Const. Matt Ingrouille doesn’t want to simply tell teens not to do drugs.
“I think traditionally when these drug education programs we’ve been insulting the intelligence of a lot of young people out there.”
Ingrouille plans to use his experience as an undercover drug enforcement officer, along with others impacted by the drug trade, to let teens make up their own minds. He’s created a program called What can a Cop, a Drug Dealer and a Colombian Teach You About Illicit Drugs , a two part program for teens and their parents.
“This program is just here’s information, here’s how it really is, and here’s a few different perspective to look at and now you can make a decision on your own whether or not you want to sample.”
“The drug trade is a commodity based business, just like the oil, and in order for us to effectively tackle this huge issue is to focus a little bit more of our time on the demand side.”
Ingrouille will be speaking to teens and their parents about the drug trade along with a reformed trafficker and a Colombian immigrant who lost family members because of the drug trade.
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Ingrouille says that George Barreras “knows first-hand the international impact of the drug trade. The story he shares is how buying a small quantity of drugs here on the streets of Saskatoon can have an actual global impact.”
The first part of the series, focusing on giving information to teens, will be tonight at the Saskatoon Police Headquarters. The second part of the program on Dec. 9 will give parents of teens who are using drugs support and strategies to use at home to help guide them through the system of recovery.
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