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But if that family member is an addict and they’re under the age of 18, it’s either a reality or perhaps something you’re hoping for. At least, that was the case with my family.

Right now, the resources for youth drug abusers and their families in Manitoba is pretty dismal. Although Marymound operates a five-bed youth drug stabilization unit, there is currently no detox centre for specifically for youth in Manitoba.

At Marymound, the youth sees a slew of doctors and counsellor, going through a condensed drug education program. After they complete this process, the centre can no longer hold them and they are released. The maximum time they are able to hold them is a paltry four days. My family is familiar with this program, and granted, we were referred to counsellor from the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, and various doctors and psychiatrists, but the wait list to see a counsellor, particularly for family counseling, was very long and the process of getting our family member help outside of Marymound was generally both tedious and intimidating.

So we were basically left on our own, only to watch the person we loved slip back into the same destructive habits. It was only after being arrested, after which they were put on probation and had to adhere to a strict curfew, that we felt at least some progress was made. Now we would at least know where they were at 4 a.m.

It will probably be a while before a detox centre for youth is opened in this province and progress on this issue is being made, but what can be done right now is people can start talking about it. Drug addiction is seen as a problem that affects people at the bottom of the rung. It’s the junkie on north Main that you drive by at two in the morning, not the kid who lives in Whyte Ridge.

At age 17, sitting in the basement with friends smoking pot, Don Corbeil first noticed all the cameras spying on him. Then he became convinced a radioactive chip had been planted in his head. “I thought I was being monitored like a lab rat,” he explains.

It never occurred to him that marijuana could be messing with his brain. Corbeil had been smoking pot since he was 14, a habit that escalated to about 10 joints a day.

He started hearing voices and, at one point, Corbeil thought he was the Messiah. Police found him one day talking incoherently, and brought him to hospital, where he was eventually diagnosed with drug-induced psychosis.

Corbeil had dabbled in other drugs, such as acid and ecstasy. But marijuana was his mainstay.

Long-term use of the drug can lead to devastating medical, psychological and social consequences, including mood disturbances, violent behavior, an increased risk of contracting infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis and higher rates of crime, unemployment and child abuse and neglect.

It can also result in a uniquely accelerated form of extensive dental disease known as "meth mouth."

Across all fronts, the economic cost of methamphetamine use in the U.S. reached a staggering $23.4 billion in 2005, according to the RAND Corp., but that doesn't even begin to account for the personal cost in the form of human pain and suffering.

So who should be on the front lines fighting the disease? Emergency room physicians? Law enforcement personnel? How about dentists?

The World Drug Report 2010, launched today by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), says that the number of users of synthetic drugs – estimated at around 30 to 40 million people worldwide – will soon exceed the number of users of opiates and cocaine combined.

“We will not solve the world drugs problem if we simply push addiction from cocaine and heroin to other addictive substances – and there are unlimited amounts of them, produced in mafia labs at trivial costs,” warned UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa.

The agency noted in a news release that the market for amphetamine-type stimulants is harder to track because of short trafficking routes, and the fact that many of the raw materials are both legal and readily available. Manufacturers are quick to market new products, such as ketamine and mephedrone, and exploit new markets.

The message was that they, too, must be extra vigilant in the effort to protect their children against the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

Students from Anita Piercey's and Margaret Ann Cleal's two Grade 6 classes were rewarded June 14 for the successful completion of the DARE - 'Drug Abuse Resistance Education' - program, instructed by Cst. Mike Martel of the RCMP's Burin Customs and Excise Section, with certificates and a party at the school.

In addressing the group, Cpl. Geoff Greene, also of the Burin Customs and Excise Section and a former DARE officer at the school, suggested parents need only take a walk through a nearby area known as 'The Pit', frequented by students at neighbouring Pearce Junior High during breaks, and take a look around the grounds to see what's going on.

"It'll be a big eye opener for some of you."

According to Cpl. Greene, some youth are experimenting with prescription drugs they find at home, searching medicine cabinets for pills, researching their effects on the Internet and popping them at school.

Twenty-five students participated as peer leaders in a program called Challenges, Beliefs and Changes ( CBC ).

The pilot program, led by TDHS principal Pam Dobbs, Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit nurse Stephanie Hillman and Chatham-Kent Police Special Const. Charlene Mitchell, trains student volunteers to discuss issues of substance use with their younger peers in grades 8 and 9.

A ceremony was held at the high school on Thursday to honour and thank the peer leaders for their work.

As a show of appreciation and congratulations, Chatham-Kent Police Chief Dennis Poole presented the students with certificates.

"You will make a difference in the lives of other people, and we're very proud of you and of the work you have done," Poole said.

"It's hard to describe the feeling, but the house is rarely unanimous on things, and to see all the members rising in support of a bill you've been working on for a few months is really very exciting," said Weston. "There were MPs from all corners of the house giving me the thumbs up and smiling - it's a real team effort."

Third and final reading is the final stage in the House of Commons before the piece of legislation is sent to the Senate. Weston said he is working to push the system as quickly as possible.

"Speed is everything because if you move slowly an election intervenes and everything dies on the order paper," he said.

Targeted ingredients in the bill include meth's precursor chemicals, such as pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, which are commonly found in over-the-counter cold medications, as well as acetone, rubbing alcohol and iodine.

Researchers say the results also suggest that among those likely to develop the disease, those who use marijuana may get the disease earlier in life than those who don't.

The findings don't prove that smoking marijuana causes schizophrenia, and the study only looked at people who already had the disease. But, "smoking marijuana may have hastened whatever process was going to happen anyway," Daniel Foti, a PhD student at Stony Brook University on New York's Long Island and the lead author on the study, told Reuters Health.

The abused drugs include pain pills and attention deficit drugs used as study aids.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that the drug use was most common among 12th graders. White students took the drugs more than blacks or Hispanics.

The CDC did not have information on which drugs were abused the most.

Symptoms such as blood pressure problems, stroke, and hallucinations, are not the only thing Cocaine users must worry about; they must also be concerned with rotting flesh.

In a publication of Annals of Internal Medicine, doctors discussed two cases of women with a history of Cocaine abuse who both suffered symptoms consisting of purple lesions on the face, ears, legs, and other parts of the body.

Doctors claimed that these symptoms are common for toxicity with Levamisole, an approved anti-worming agent used for veterinary purposes typically used to treat cattle, sheep and pigs. The substance was once used to treat autoimmune diseases, kidney disorders, and cancer in humans in the U.S. but since has been banned for its side effects.

These effects, doctors claim, are being seen in Cocaine users, ranging from a variety of symptoms. The least serious being skin lesions, which are easily treatable and go away in time The most serious side effect being Agranulocytosis, a disease that effects white blood cell content and which requires hospitalization to cure.