MARCH 28, 2007

CAMPUS

HE: GADRE ~*~ 4

Drink Safe Keep Safe

New date rape educational cam-

pagn a success: UPEI officer

Beth Lassaline

Reporter Three years ago the P.E.I. liquor com-

mission initiated funding for a new initia- tive that targeted the date rape drug.

The Posters and Coasters campaign was the result of many prominent local organizations collaborating to create a new and informative campaign that - directly targeted young people. The operation’s primary goal was to raise awareness about date rape drugs, as well as to promote responsible drinking habits.

Wendy Adams, a police officer at UPETI, has been involved with the proj- ect since its conception.

“We ate pleased to be part of it here at UPEI. Anytime that our department has the opportunity to go out and speak we always promote this campaign.”

Adams believes that the project’s suc- cess is largely in part of the strong sup- port of the UPEI Student Union as well as the students. Distributing the post- ers and encouraging the campus bar to display the coasters has been an integral part of the success.

“Tt was a lot of fun and the people involved are amazing, The Student Union really stepped up to the plate and UPEI students were more than happy to donate their time,” Adams said.

The initial campaign first started two yeats ago in October 2005 and even though some people think date rape doesn’t happen, Adams warns, “date rape drugs are a threat anywhere. The province did this for a reason.”

The primary campaign consisted of posters and coasters that displayed a silhouetted hand attempting to drug a drink. The caption read, “date rape drugs are easily slipped into drinks” Adams explains that the first campaign was targeted at educating students about the possibility of date rape drugs being dropped into their drinks. The posters offer practical and feasible advice, like not leaving drinks unattended or accept- ing drinks from other people.

The second campaign focused on the criminal penalty.

“We selected a picture of the conse- quences as we wanted to send a message to those who were dropping the drugs.”

The date rape drug, most often found to be a white, dime-sized pill of GHB, Ketamine, or Rohypnol is colourless and odoutless. Its effect produces an amnesia like state that makes it very dif- ficult, if not impossible, for the victim to remember the assault. The drug only

Jared Doyle, UPEI business student and wave bartender...posters and coasters are — on display at the wave.

Lassaline photo

stays in the body for up to eight hours. Adams explains that from a law enfotce- ment standpoint, the crime of drugging someone’s drink can be a difficult case to mount, as most often the evidence is lost and the witnesses are gone. No one on PEI. has ever been charged with this of- fense. This is why educational campaigns are so important for students and their parents.

The province has responded by imple- menting the educational coaters and posters program rather than an ‘indica- tor’ coaster program.

Adams explained that a Canadian company had claimed to create a coaster that could indicate if a drink had been spiked. The P.E.I. liquor commission and all parties involved thought it was

best to participate in an educational cam- —

paign as “nothing is absolute and it may give a person a false sense of security.”

Adams adds, “everybody was very recep-

tive and thought it was great to educate the public, the posters and coasters have gone quite quickly and it was all very positive.”

The third launch of the campaign is still in the planning stages.

“We don’t know right yet, we are updating our website and we’re always putting out new information.”

As the education campaign continues Adams hopes that students will stop and take a minute to read the posters and use precaution in the future.

Mote information can be found at the P.E.I. Rape Crisis Centre, or by logging on to

UPEI perimeter road getting

Marcel Pellerin Reporter

Spring is here, and most of our cars ate

a little worn down from the winter. That creaking sound in your right front tire just gets worst every time you hit one of — those pot holes along the perimeter road, and sometimes you just.can’t swerve out of the way in time and teeth jar as the

_ wheel slams in and out of that fair sized hole.

Followed by a slew of curses, you make

sure you don’t hit any more along the _ way, giving the pot holes a wide berth _ and sometimes scaring the crap out of a

poor sucker who happened to be walking along the sidewalk-less road, who them- selves are trying their best not to get infamous P.E.I red mud on themselves. Kathy Mackenzie of Facilities Manage- ment recognises the growing concern of

- the deteriorating road.

“Tt certainly is a bad year for pot holes. They are difficult to deal with at the best of times and weather conditions such as we ate having this year tend to com-

worse by the day

pound the problem.”

Maintenance is doing their best to stay on top of the issue, filling the holes as quick as they can.

“However, depending on the weather and traffic conditions, it can deteriorate again by the end of the day,” Mackenzie said. ;

With the end of the semester ap- proaching and the weather warming up, it’s doubtful that anyone will see any real change in the perimeter road, but there are plans for fixing it up.

“The long-term plan is for a major rebuild of the perimeter road,” said Mackenzie.

_ Mackenzie was asked about the sched-

ule for the new road but did not have

. that information. The Cadre could not

get a hold of the right people before printing time.

Here’s to hoping that they put in a sidewalk and take a bit of the rush out of walking around that bend by the Ma- cLauchlan arena.