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The Drug Problem continued from page I times are no more than wild guesses They Indicate however the magnitude or the problem as seen by the teachers Teachers estimates range from 30 to per cent The latter figure Is probably high The former could be low A statement from Newmarket Police Constable Glenn Phillips indicates how futile ft is to estimate the extent of drug use among area teenagers A lot of young people are try ing it once he says They find them selves with a group of kids who are using it and they give it a try They may not try It again But at the same time there i lot who i the stuff all the Teachers have learned to spot kids who walk into their classes high They talk about the problem among them selves and occasionally report a suspec ted offender to the school administration But the kids are clever and proof is dif ficult to obtain List of names Its no secret that the police on to the pushers says a student They have a long list of names The school administration is on to some of But as Chief Longman writes in his report drug abuse investigations arc painstaking and timeconsuming and sometimes fruitless The Aurora Police Department has made three arrests In the past year of persons charged with ille gal possession of narcotics In one of those arrests two 16- year old King Township girls were con victed of hashish possession They were In Newmarkets Provincial Court Friday two unrelated narcotics cases re remanded until Jan Constable Phillips recalls a ease where he took a youth affected by drugs to York County Hospital One minute he would be per fectly calm says Constable Phillips The next mmute hed be screaming and pounding his fists against the wall The doctor knew he was on some kind of drug but he couldnt tell what it was In another case a youth ad dicted to speed was committed to the hospital A physician advised that if he didnt kick the habit he would be dead within a year Some critical In two weeks ago Po lice Chief James Kaye old a parents group that local youngsters as young as were In hospital because of ill effects from drug use Some were in critical conch ion he said There Is little doubt that some area youngsters may be destined for an early death because of drugs Some know it but cant stop Some dont know it Some don had been under surveillance for time His case was remanded for the second time last week The other case involved a teen age girl from Aurora charged with hash ish possession by East Po lice She was found guilty of underage drinking last Friday but her lawyer was successful in getting a remand on the hashish charge Four men arrested Last week in Richmond Hill four men aged 17 to were arrested on drug charges Two of the four were charged with trafficking in LSD Bail for one of the youths 21-year- old Wayne Kelly of Oak Ridges was set at The Crown Attorney asked for hashish The Crown said police bad re ceived threatening telephone calls from a certain group demanding Kellys re- To lay charges of possession police obviously must apprehend a person carrying drugs To get a trafficking con viction a witness to a drug sale must testify in court Corroborating witnesses often lay charges But countless of drug abuse and in some cases hor rifying consequences thereof are sel- problems with the kids was liquor says Constable Phillips Today if wo stop a carload of young people and we see theyre obviously on something theres usually no evidence With liquor you can smell it on their breath or find empty bottles in the car With drugs theres nothing If they see us coming they just pop a pill in their mouth There goes your evidence They seldom carry more than one or two pills at time School board concerned The York County Board cation last week formed a special com mittee to assist principals and teachers In coping with the problem The com mittee was formed at a closed meeting whore nearly principals and teachers met with the regional health officer re presentatives of York County Psychiatric Service public health nurses the Addic tion Research Foundation and a number of parents the meeting school board spoke A press release said the board also plans to set up some form of parent education to In form all parents of the problem in order to dispel unnecessary alarm Both Aurora and Newmarket Police agree that public education is a major prerequisite toward solution of the drug problem Chief said his department plans a series on drug edu cation for the coming year He says the police will sponsor the series but would not take part I dont think enforcement should be emphasized he says Were en couraging groups to meet and well help up the meetings Our job is to en force the law But at the same time our job is to care about the safety of others In the case of drug abuse we feel we should pull the strings public education We feel if people want the information they should get it from the experts The police too are engaged in continual selfeducation on the problem They attend seminars and conferences on the subject Were still learning a lot our selves says Constable At the same time the kids are learning too the hard way Get that nice warm feellmg with naturad gas heating and you dont pay a cent til April Its natures and it Economical You get a free get gas heating installed right r payments until April 3 there Dependable Clean can forget about fumacc Sort of gives you a nice warm feeling doesnt It Call Consumers Gas 8954577