The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

DRUG AWARENESS THE PORT PERRY STAR, Tuesday, September 26, 1995. - 9 OSAID takes aim at drinking and driving Positive peer pressure conveys the message that choices are up to the students By Jeff Mitchell Port Perry Star Call it peer pressure, if you like. A program at Port Perry High School is aimed at con- vincing kids that drinking and driving is the wrong choice, and it's primarily up to student committee members to get the message across. Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving (OSAID) is a program that's in place in a number of schools across the province, and in the case of the local high school, it's arrival came none too soon, according to coordinator Joan Quail, a co-op education teacher with 28 years at PPHS. "We've had 13 students killed in alcohol-related acci- dents," she said during a recent interview. "We finally said, No More." OSAID is student driven. Each year staff coordinators seek out senior students who will provide the program with the kind of leadership and flair that's necessary to convey the message about the potential tragedies that await those who drink, then get behind the wheel. The program doesn't preach. Organizers recognize that some kids will drink, and no amount of coaxing will prevent them. It 1s, in effect, their business. "Now we're saying if you want to drink, that's your choice," said Mrs. Quail. "But if you want to drink and get on the highway, then it's our issue." The local program -- kids at PPHS team up through the year with their counterparts at Cartwright High School in Blackstock -- focuses on a num- ber of activities and fundraisers throughout the year, with the message about drinking and driving the consistent factor. And for the last several years, PPHS has taken part in the Prevent Alcohol and Risk- related Trauma in Youth (PARTY) program, which brings the message home in the most stark of fashions: Kids are actually taken to Sunnybrook Health Science Centre in Toronto, where they see first-hand the aftermath of accidents in the hospital's' trauma ward. . "It's like Scared Straight," Mrs. Quail said, referring to the program that saw kids on the verge of trouble taken to federal prisons for a view of what life inside is like. "We take the kids and show them. After that, they don't want to drive, let alone drink and drive. "It has a tremendous effect on students." And the results speak for themselves. Mrs. Quail refers to records she's kept since PPHS started taking part in the PARTY program in 1986: "Not a single student who has gone through the PARTY pro- gram has been convicted of a drinking and driving offence." Teens present parents with constant challenge Parenting teenagersis a challenging endeavor un- der the best circumstanc- es. Parenting teenagers who are abusing substanc- es presents an even great- er challenge: Testing par- ents' patience, resourcefulness, and basic sense of sanity. Parents often find the parenting skills, values, beliefs, and successful strategies used in the past to direct their child no longer are effective with an adolescent. Further, the adoles- cent's emotional state is anything but stable and predictable, given the in- creased amounts of hor- mones raging through their bodies. Add mood- altering substances to an already emotionally vola- tile state, and it is no won- der parents often report feeling constantly baffled and defeated by their child's behavior. They of- ten state that they nolong- er know their child, and that she/he certainly is not the child they raised and nurtured. In order to take alook at possible parenting strate- gies and ways of coping with a substance abusing adolescent, it is importan to know what can be typ1? cally expected during the adolescent stage of devel- opment, as well as how other family dynamics in- teract with the substance abuse problem. OLY ONY A: 7! . Alcohol will help you relax. True or False? . Wine makes dinner more enjoyable and is a responsible way to drink. True or False? . How much of the Canadian population drinks wine, beer or spirits. One-quarter. One-half. Three-quarters. More than three-quarters. . Other people form opinions about us based on whether we drink and how we behave when we're drinking. True or False? : * The Second Hand for Kids and other Treasures 159 Casimir St., Unit #2, Port Perry 985-7795 (just off Water Street) Tuesdays to Saturdays You can lose a lot more than your licence drinking and driving This ad sponsered by: FT ORT PERRY aulo glass &" trim wu, {0 URL RPK Sn x RE, ea, rr 139 Water St., Port Perry 985-8507 x Gently worn children's clothing}, sold on consignment Don't Drink and Drive Ww CANADIAN [11313 DJ TAYLO INSURANCE BROKERS LTD. 169 North St., Port Perry 'st : b: Ht bh Lp - P'! TE I ET, Sogn x