HELPFUL IDEAS ON CRYSTAL METH

The anguish of parents and teenagers coping with crystal-meth
addiction is heartbreaking. The premier's task force report holds out
some hope to those families and all communities fighting this highly
addictive and damaging drug.

The great strength of this report, chaired by Colleen Klein, is its
call for action from all parts of the community -- schools, health
regions, police and provincial agencies.

The task force calls for heavier sentences for dealers, more jail time
and more officers on the job. But it is absolutely correct that
stamping out crystal meth addictions is much more complex than a
question of improved enforcement.

"The problem can't be solved just by treating those who are addicted
to crystal meth or putting more drug dealers in jail. It's going to
take a combination of those actions plus a strong emphasis on
prevention."

That community-based approach is harder to implement, but if the
commitment is there from all levels, these recommendations will go a
long way to help families and teenagers struggling with addictions
from alcohol to cocaine.

In some cases, the report notes, it doesn't take much to have a
dramatic impact. Providing at-risk teenagers with a positive
connection to their community, through a soccer team or skateboard
park, is crucial, for instance.

As the report noted, "if we provide at lease one recreational
opportunity, we can reduce the possibility of their future drug use by
up to 80 per cent."

That means that in a boom economy, where the demands for roads and
bridges drown out social concerns, communities must find a way to put
more into more recreation spaces, sports programs and Head Start
programs for schoolchildren.

The report also calls for special funding for communities to develop a
drug prevention strategy. There's no estimate of the cost, and there's
a lot of competing demands for dollars in the report -- more probation
officers, more police, more treatment beds.

Health Minister Iris Evans will take some time to sort through these
recommendations and the public response to come up with a budget and a
plan of action. But many of these steps can be taken quickly. Some
communities, like Drayton Valley, are already showing the way.

The committee's call for some major changes to the criminal code,
including mandatory jail time for those convicted of drug offences,
needs to be approached with more caution.

Rightly, Justice Minister Ron Stevens reacted coolly to the
recommendation to abandon the presumption of innocence for those found
with large quantities of the ingredients needed to make crystal meth.
The principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty is
fundamental to our justice system and should not be tampered with.

The report also wants the province to seize the profits from drug
crime without a criminal conviction. A bill with exactly those
measures was passed in 2001, though is not yet proclaimed.

Meanwhile, the government should also keep a close eye on Alberta's
experiment with mandatory treatment orders that got underway this
summer for drug-addled teenagers. Desperate parents can now go to
court and ask a judge to order their teenager into a five-day
treatment program. How many of these orders have been issued and how
many teenagers have then gone into longer-term treatment as a result?

The battle against crystal meth and other drugs is a long-term one. As
the report notes, we need to concentrate resources on measures that
work in the community.