Driving kids away from drugs

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

Not very many kids can say they spent a weekday learning from playing video games, competing in trivia contests, and eating snacks, but that’s exactly what Grade 6 students from Dorval Elementary School did last Wednesday morning as part of the Montreal police’s drug prevention days.

“It’s about the importance of making right choices,” said police Station 5 Const. Liliana Bellucci, who was also the MC for the day. “We organized it for the Grade 6 students, because they’re about to go through the transition to high school.”

Held from May 6 to 8 at the West Island YMCA in

Pointe Claire, the event — encompassed under the slogan “My choices = my future” — was organized with various partners, including the Sûreté du Québec, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the CN railway police, and Urgences santé. Students spent about two hours going between a number of different stations, which were each designed to teach the students about the dangers of alcohol abuse, drinking and driving, cigarette smoking, and taking drugs. There were also a few stations focused on physical well being that challenged the students to make healthy snack choices, and even had them doing some exercise.

“We try to make it fun for the kids. This way, they actually get to participate,” Bellucci said. “I think the X-box station is probably the most popular.”

The station in question saw the students try their hands at a popular racing game, and then attempt it a second time while wearing drunk goggles.

“You can’t really see anything. You don’t know if you’re moving or not. You can’t even tell the difference between the road and the side,” said 12-year-old Shanelle of the experience.

“If you drink too much, this is how you feel,” said Ryan, adding he doesn’t plan to drink or do drugs after seeing what it can be like.

A number of other local schools attended the three-day event, which took about 50 volunteers per day to run. Bellucci said, in future years, they would like to expand it to include more schools and reach more children.

“This is the first time we’ve pulled the event off,” Bellucci said. “We had wonderful participation from the community and from the sponsors, and we hope to continue it in the future.”