TAKING ACTION ON DRUGS, ALCOHOL

The Campbell River Community Alcohol and Drug Action Committee (CADAC)
needs the help of community members in gathering data for their needs
assessment research.

The research will be compiled to create an action plan to help better
the community.

"The philosophy is that people don't need to do all these things
(taking drugs and alcohol) if they are living happy and productive
lives," said Jodie McDonald, CADAC Coordinator. "So how can we, as a
community, make that happen for the most number of people?

"It's a prevention program and what that means is not necessarily
'just say no' it's 'here's what else you can do.'"

In order to find out what programs people would like to see in the
community, a survey is being distributed among service providers in
Campbell River along with a general survey for members of the community.

The survey itself is about alcohol and drug use in Campbell River and
how that impacts the community.

Questions are also asked about what services they would like to see in
the area.

"It's not just for people who have problems in that area, it's for
anybody who feels that it impacts their lives in some way," said McDonald.

She is also holding focus groups intended to gather information and is
looking for those willing to participate.

"I'm just trying to talk to people to get to know the big picture in
Campbell River," she said. "What will come out of this research is an
action plan for Campbell River - what is good, what is bad, what needs
to happen and then we're going to go ahead and try to find funding for
the plans to initiate programs."

But in order to gather enough data to get an accurate representation
of what the community wants, she needs help distributing the surveys.

"The best way is to get people surveying each other, and not have an
official researcher doing it," she said. "Just having the people of
Campbell River survey themselves - It's much more honest in some ways."

It takes less than five minutes to fill out.

They can be picked up at the John Howard Society, above the Plaza
Bakery on 10th Avenue.

If you would like to volunteer to distribute surveys or participate in
focus groups, or for more information call McDonald at 286-0611, or
e-mail her at crcadac@yahoo.ca.

Any businesses or agencies that would be willing to hand out the
surveys in their place of business would be welcomed.

"We have a really strong representation from the community and from
lots of different areas," said McDonald.

The committee includes members of the John Howard Society, Second
Chance, Addiction and Drug Services, the Ministry of Children and
Family Services and the school district.

City councillors, community members, Cape Mudge and Campbell River
Band members, RCMP, a public health nurse, are also part of the
committee along with representatives from the salvation army and
women's centre to name a few.

"It's incredible that this just kind of bubbled up organically," she
said. "That all these people at this moment in time just started to
care about this stuff, so it's really exciting, in that sense that
we've got this much support at many different levels of the
community."