Addictions Awareness Week coincides with Grey Cup festivities

MOOSE JAW – At the Eagles Hall in Moose Jaw, members of the public, private and non-profit sectors struggled to answer a number of trivia questions about addiction awareness.

“At what age are children and youth reporting use of drugs and alcohol?”

SADD president at Moose Jaw’s Vanier High School, Katelyn McDowell is one of the first to put up her hand.

“Eleven!” she shouts out.

She’s about four years off.

“The community definitely thinks that it’s at younger ages than what it really is. It’s good to hear that it’s 15 and not younger than that, even though 15 is still too early,” she said.

The Moose Jaw South Central Region Drug Strategy held a luncheon Tuesday afternoon which coincided with Addictions Awareness Week.

“What we’re doing today is celebrating people who’ve made a contribution to help the issues that arise because of alcohol and drugs in the community,” said Christine Boyczuk, a coordinator with the drug strategy.

This week’s campaign is titled “Addictions in Disguise” as bad habits. It can be a slippery slope to drug or alcohol addiction and law enforcement especially wants to remind people of that for this week, in particular.

“Of course this week there’s a pretty big event going on in the province, but we do need to take time to stay focused on some of the things that are very important to our community and addictions are something that cause trouble in the community,” Rick Bourassa, Moose Jaw Police Chief.

“We want to make sure that people are driving safely, that they’re utilizing alcohol and their prescription medication appropriately,” said Boyczuk.

McDowell and her SADD group will be focusing on one of the most common types of addictions – alcohol.

“Our favourite slogan is you booze, you cruise, you lose. And that’s definitely the kids’ favourite one,” said McDowell.