GIRLS TURN TO METH AS DIET, POLICE WARN

'We've Got a Recipe for Disaster,' Addiction Counsellor Says

OTTAWA - Drug advocacy groups and police in Western Canada are
noticing a disturbing new trend of teenage girls who use the drug
crystal meth to lose weight -- up to 18 kilograms a month.

"We've got a recipe for disaster," addiction counsellor Bob Hughes
said. "It's huge -- this combination of body image issues and the
drug's weight loss appeal."

Crystal meth, the street version of the drug methamphetamine, is an
addictive stimulant that causes elation and alertness in addition to
curbing appetite.

Meth users can smoke, snort, inject or swallow the drug. They're
usually ingesting a crude combination of cold medicine, brake cleaner,
fertilizer, drain cleaner and iodine along with a myriad of other chemicals.

"Meth is an appetite suppressant," Vancouver RCMP Corporal Scott
Rintoul said. "It's a drug that will give you stimulation for 12
hours, with no need to eat and no need to sleep."

It's also cheap -- between $5 and $10 per hit -- and has consequently
been labelled "poor man's cocaine."

But this time, teenage girls are using it.

"Young women know and find out quickly that there are drugs that do
reduce your appetite and cause you to lose weight," Corp. Rintoul
said. "And meth is so affordable."

Mr. Hughes, who helps run a crystal meth treatment program called Meth
Kickers, in Kamloops, B.C., said he is seeing an increased number of
teenage girls aged 12 to 18 come through his doors.

"You see these women who are five feet, four inches and 95 pounds and
they have such a distorted body image," he said.

According to the World Health Organization, methamphetamine is the
most widely used illicit drug in the world after cannabis.

"We're in this era of stimulant drugs -- the need for speed," Corp.
Rintoul said. "But when it comes to body image, we also have the need
to be thin."

Methamphetamine has been around for decades. It was marketed in North
America in the 1920s as a weight-loss drug.

"It was touted for its dietary benefits," Mr. Hughes said. "It's
amazing that in the first place this drug was used for weight loss."

Meth is relatively simple to make. There are thousands of recipes on
the Internet and police estimate that an investment of about $150 can
yield an amount worth about $10,000 on the street.

But it also has lethal side-effects. Meth use can cause insomnia,
hallucinations, paranoia and anxiety as well as heart problems,
convulsion, brain damage and death.

Mr. Hughes has seven young people in his Meth Kickers treatment
program. All are female and two have eating disorders.

The six-week outpatient program, which is just under a year old, has
been touted as unconventional. That's because patients are allowed to
smoke marijuana while trying to kick the meth habit.

"It's a harm-reduction program," Mr. Hughes said. "And some people are
more comfortable with that than others."

Across the country, there are unclear statistics of how many girls use
crystal meth to lose weight. But one thing that both police and drug
advocacy groups agree on is that the drug is spreading from west to
east.

"We can see the tornado coming," said Zenon Lisakowski, a prevention
and education consultant with the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba.
"But what is interesting is that we have the ability to put preventive
measures in place."

Added Corp. Rintoul: "It's going to get worse. It's going to spread east
first, before we go through the cycle. Whether it's going to explode like it
has in some U.S. states, we hope not."