High River RCMP School Liaison Officer Constable Jill Mills works with youth in the schools and can help their parents as well.

Mills recently gave a talk to parents about youths and drug use.

Mills said the legalization of marijuana is a big topic along with the high risks of powerful drugs like Fentanyl and Carfentanil.

"I started talking about marijuana basics," said Mills. "The conversation morphed into questions and concerns about the upcoming  legislation of marijuana and what that is going to look like for Canada as a whole, but also what it is going to look like for our community."

Mills said she wasn't able to answer all the questions about the move to legalization as the government hasn't released all the details yet.

She adds there are people at the talk who believe that legalization will make the drug safe, but that's not quite what is going to happen.

"They were like this is going to make it better because all the marijuana is going to be grown by the Government of Canada or it's going to be approved by the Government of Canada. But don't for a second think that means that the illegal production of marijuana  is going to disappear. That is still going to be there."

She adds everyone will be learning as they go because it is something new.

"My belief is that the Government of Canada and the provinces and the communities that we live in will be doing their very best to  create laws and guidelines that will guide the usage of marijuana."

Mills adds part of the growing process will be changing and tweaking the laws as we go.

"The government is doing the best they can, I believe, to set up a situation so things will be safe, but this is new and we learn as we do things."

The group also discussed the risks involved with alcohol and opioids.

Mills said the best way to deal with teens and risky behaviour is to talk about it with them,

"When your kids come to you and want to ask questions, do your best to answer them. Sit down and have an open conversation with them about it."

Mills says if they are not comfortable talking to you they will find the answers in other sources like their friends or the Internet.

If there are other groups of adults that would like Mills to do a talk they just need to call the High River RCMP detachment at (403)652-2357 to set it up.

 

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