TARGETING CRYSTAL METH

It's nonsense to claim that we're serious about dealing with crystal meth.

Here in Victoria there is not one detox bed for adult meth addicts. Not
because of a waiting list. The spaces just don't exist.

And that says much more than all the rhetoric about longer jail sentences
and tougher controls on the ingredients needed to make the drug.

A meth addict who wakes up today, looks at the ruins of her life and takes
the huge step of looking for a place to get clean - the critical start to
dealing with the addiction - is on her own.

The Vancouver Island Health Authority has one public residential detox unit
for adults in the Victoria region, with seven beds.

It no longer takes meth addicts, or people on cocaine. The centre now only
accepts people withdrawing from heroin and alcohol. VIHA says they face
bigger health risks.

Meth addicts should detox at home, the authority suggests.

That's ludicrous.

Meth withdrawal may not involve the physical symptoms of alcohol or heroin,
although addicts disagree. But it is hell.

The addict fights depression, paranoia, aggression and, most dangerously, a
fierce craving for the drug. It takes intensive support for someone who is
already a mess to claw through the nightmare.

And what is this "home" that the addicts are supposed to curl up in while
they go through detox? A noisy shelter, full of other addicts, which
requires them to be out on the streets all day? A park, an alley? A room
shared with friends who are still using? No one can seriously think those
are suitable for detox.

The situation is as bizarre for younger addicts. There are five youth detox
beds in the region. They were full until this spring, when VIHA imposed a
strict no-smoking rule. Kids see giving up meth and cigarettes at once as
too much, so beds sit empty and youths abandon treatment early. The
no-smoking rule comes ahead of helping teen meth addicts quit.

DETOX FIRST STEP

Detox is just the first step. Recovering addicts then face waits of six
weeks or more for a treatment space - time in which they are at constant
risk of using again.

This isn't an attack on the Vancouver Island Health Authority. The situation
is similar across the province, as health authorities make service fit
funding.

Detox and treatment for meth addicts aren't priorities.

It's a judgment that's consistent with the government's priorities. B.C. has
been working on an "integrated strategy" to deal with meth for about a year.
The last update in April did not devote one line to detox and treatment. The
No. 1 issue for people on the front lines - the lack of help for addicts -
was ignored.

Instead, everyone is talking about enforcement, cheering new higher maximum
sentences for meth dealers, demanding mandatory minimum terms. They're
worried about ways to make it harder to buy the ingredients.

That's worthwhile. Enforcement will at least push up the cost of the drug -
now terribly cheap - as supply tightens and providers build in a risk
premium. Higher cost may deter some potential users.

But we've established, with every drug battle since Prohibition, that the
problem can't be solved by attacking the supply side. If there is a demand,
the market will ensure that there is a supply. We have targeted the supply
side of the heroin market for a decade, and the drug is more plentiful,
powerful and cheaper, and people are still dying.

When enforcement increases, the criminals in the drug business adjust. More
aggressive police action against marijuana growing operations resulted in
gangs switching to making meth, B.C.'s Organized Crime Agency reported.

The battle will be won or lost on the demand side.

That means providing the information and skills people need to avoid
addiction, and the help and resources that they need to recover if they do
become ensnared.

And it means reaching out to people while they are using, and helping them
to manage their addiction, choose less damaging drugs and avoid sickness and
crime.

Meth is a bad drug. The risk of quick addiction is high, and the physical
toll terrible.

That means it deserves a real response - detox and treatment for people who
want and need help.

Until those are available, we can't claim to be serious about crystal meth.