me.

'. abuse problems.

Agriculture Canada plans to spray
parts of the North Shore with a
pesticide to kill off the Asian gyp-
sy moth. But many people think it
could cause problems for the en-
vironment and want to stop the
spraying. Is the spraying neces-
sary?

CAPSA workshops bring sowerful i message

SOME PEOPLE say it’s the best time in your life. Others
say it’s the hardest. One thing’s for sure — being a

teenager nowadays is not easy.

. Pressure in school, pressure at
home, pressure to fit in, pressure
to look gcod. It adds up to a lot
of stress.

‘Different peopfe handle it dif-
ferently, and nobody can really
escape it. A fot of kids use drugs
and alcohol to ‘‘escape,"’ to have
fun. But when using: alcoho) or
drugs starts to take over your life,

' you’re looking at more problems
than you were trying to escape
- from in the first place.

There’s a2 group on the North

Shore that understands substance
Called CAPSA
* «Community Action for Preven-

tion. of Substance Abuse), the

group is launching a pilot project

for Grade 9s
“ schools called Healthy Choices.

i And it’s not just another
preachy course on the dangers of
drugs and alcohol.

The workshops wiil be hosted
by young adults who have been
through the painful experience of
substance abuse and are now re-
covering.

Craig Johnston, a youth worker
for Deep Cove, is a memver of
CAPSA. He believes that

- “regardless of how excellent a
textbook, a teacher, a movie is,
sometimes you can’t believe it
could happen to you until you
hear it from a person it happened

: if you met Sabrina

Deneumoustier, a vivacious young
woman and current Miss North
Shore, you might never believe her
life was once marred by an
alcohol problem.

Dressed in a smart burgundy
suit and trim black pants,
Deneumoustier agreed to talk to

in North Shore.

By Barbara Black
ZAP! REPORTER

ZAP! about the Healthy Choices
workshops - which she is par-
icipating in.

First off, she states: ‘‘I wanted
to do something like this for a
Jong time.’” She says the great
thing about the workshops are
that, rather than being presented
by an older ‘‘authority,’’ they are
more personal. ‘I’m closer to
their age and I have gone through
it.”

The seven people (aged 17 to
23) volunteering for the workshop
have been clean and sober for at
least one year. Each will describe
his or her experience with addic-
tion.

How can a teenager possibly be
an addict?

Deneumoustier admits she
didn’t think it possible herself. ‘I
really didn’t think that being a
teenager you could become an al-
coholic or an addict. Every
teenager just drinks because... it’s
something to do. But some will
end up having a serious problem
with it.”

That is what happened to her
and why she now volunteers her
time to help others faced with.the
same situation.

Now 20 and pursuing a career
in broadcast journalism,

Deneumoustier stresses that if you «

realize you are abusing alcohol or
drugs there is always help and, as
she proves, change is possible.
“It’s not the end of the world,
because it can change, people
change... you don’t have to wait
until you’re 35 and you're on

Youth Alliance meet

“QUR GLOBAL Homeland” —
no, it’s not a new world anthem.
It’s an international conference
being held at Prince of Wales
Secondary School today, April 11
and [2.

_ Sponsored by the Environmen-
tal Youth Alliance, the con-
fererence will give students
throughout the world a chance to
unite, exchange ideas and opinions
and share solutions to the world’s
problems, say organizers.

ZAP!’S QUESTION last week
was if it was up to you to
make cuts in your school,
which program or courses
would get the axe? ©

3 would cut French because

Youth will have opportunites to
participate in wilderness trips to
natural areas of Vancouver as well
as attend a series of workshops
such as native dance and com-
munity action.

At 3 p.m. today there will be a
rally starting from Kits Beach to
downtown. Saturday night will be
topped off with local .bands.

For more information contact
Kevin or Doug at 731-7027.

you never use French. I would
also cut woodwork because you
never use woofwork either.
They're totally unrelated to
school.

If the school’s feeling the
pinch and it was up to me f
wouldn’t cut any of the
courses, Students need the
kinds that they have now with
all the pressures to learn. If
you had to cut a course I
would cut physical education.

I'd cut choir, band, metal
shop, strings, summer school,
special field trips that the
schoo! board pays for...

I'd cut P.E. and life skills.

NEWS photo Cindy Goodman

TWENTY-YEAR-OLD Sabrina Deneumcustier, a broadcast journalism student at BCIT, credits her
family for being supportive of her during a difficult time. She now heips other youths deal with
substance abuse problems through the CAPSA workshops. ;

welfare and your life is a wreck.
i’m so happy I made the change

when I was young and now I have.

my whole life ahead of me.’’

She agrees that there are a lot
of pressures on young people:
“Everybody wants to be the same.
They want to have nice clothes,
money, nice cars, a good-looking
boyfriend or girlfriend at school,
and then at home you have the
pressure of getting high grades.’’

Deneumoustier believes that a
large part of society is ‘tin denial’’
about just how much alcohol and
drugs are affecting youth. But she

“Good evening,
Revenue Canada...”

Revenue Canada
Taxation

is optimistic that the CAPSA pro-
gram can make a difference.

“Even if we just help one per-
son, that would be just great... it
can really change your life.’’

She says of alcohol abuse ‘‘It
can take you places you just don’t
want to go...you can lose your
friends, your family and totally
lose yourself to the point where
you just don’t remember who you
are or you know. who you are and
you don’t like yourself.’’

But Deneumoustier credits her
family for being supportive of her
in her hard time.

She caught up on all her school-
ing, won the Miss North Shore
contest, and entered BCIT on a
scholarship, where she is currently
studying. In addition to her in-
volvement in CAPSA, she is help-
ing promote the Youth Am-
bassador contest which will
replace the Miss North Shore pag-
eant next year.

Membership in CAPSA is open
to anyone. The group, which was _
formed to promote community
involvement in substance abuse
prevention, meets once per month.
Call 983-6710.

It may not be convenient to call us
during the day, so to answer any
questions you may have about your tax

return, we also offer an “after hours”
- phone service from February 24
to April 30. We will be happy

4, to answer your call, Monday

“~, through Thursday, from

5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

For recorded infor-
mation on selected
topics, you can also

call our T.LPS. Info-Tax
automated phone service,

os 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

You'll find the numbers for our phone
services at the back of your tax guide.

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