Epic Walker Stresses Family Connectivity

Balwinder "Bill" Kahlon knows little about Alcohol-Drug Education Service, but what he said recently could have been taken straight from the A-DES playbook.

Kahlon stopped by Surrey City Hall on Sept. 29 to meet with the city's Crime Reduction Strategy Manager, Colleen Kerr, and others who are concerned about substance abuse in the Lower Mainland.

Kahlon is so worried about drugs and alcohol harming Canadian youth, he walked clear across the country to raise awareness.

No fooling: His 7,400-km trek began April 1 St. John's, Newfoundland. Rest his sole(s), he ended his super-marathon Monday in Victoria.

Kahlon is vice president of the Drug Awareness Foundation of Calgary. Over months of planning, he cobbled together enough backing from supporters to facilitate the trip. No one associated with his pavement-pounding odyssey was paid.

"The walk was not everything," said Kahlon. "It was just to wake people up."

The soft-spoken Indo-Canadian man cited three things that need work to stem the tide of drug and alcohol abuse: "family values," communication, and quality time. According to Kahlon, families need to start talking, spend meaningful time together, and rediscover the values that traditionally held clans together.

Sounds just like A-DES' focus on family connectivity.

"We are home, but we are not home," Kahlon said. "We're on the phone, or on the computer. Home is not 'home' anymore, it's just boarding … We need to tell kids what's right and wrong when they're young; get back to values … We need to be talking."

Kahlon could conduct A-DES "Parents as Preventors" workshop. It stresses the same things he prescribes, like making time to really connect with sons and daughters. That's important, said Kahlon, because youth desperately need positive role models
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"Kids do what we do, not what we say," he said.

Despite the hand-wringing and hair-pulling over how to solve "the drug problem," Kahlon's advice requires neither think tanks nor millions in spending – just parents being better parents
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Said Kahlon, "It's very simple. This problem can be solved."