CRYSTAL METH USERS CLOG UP COURTS

Meth-Related Crimes Alarm Police Agencies

REGINA -- As Gary Walter lay dying on a Nipawin street, the
19-year-old who had just kicked and punched the mentally challenged
man to a bloodied pulp rifled through his victim's pockets in search
of cash.

Sentenced in January to 11 years in prison for manslaughter, Wesley
Alan Harker's only recollection of killing the 56-year-old nine months
earlier is that "something snapped."

That same day, a Prince Albert courtroom hears about a home invasion
by three men looking for "jib." They confronted a mother and her three
children, including an 11-year-old boy who tangled with the intruders.

A week later in Saskatoon, Jack Froese is sentenced to three years in
prison for a brutal sexual assault on an unwitting, 19-year-old hotel
maid. Froese, 24, detailed the attack in a story he penned titled,
Third floor last door, in reference to the room where he raped his
terrified victim at knifepoint.

In Naicam and Spalding, RCMP raids just a few days earlier result in
14 charges of drug trafficking against two local men. It's the
culmination of an 18-month investigation in the communities,
populations 760 and 260 respectively.

And while officers conduct those raids, a judge in Regina is giving
39-year-old drug trafficker Terry Joseph Nameth a three-year prison
sentence in hopes it might deter others from "distributing this
pestilence."

The pestilence to which Judge Linton Smith referred is crystal meth --
a common thread drawing together all of these seemingly unrelated
cases from courtrooms across the province. It's a one-month snapshot,
but cases like those of meth users Harker and Froese provide a telling
glimpse at just why police are alarmed about the growing prevalence of
crystal meth and why justice officials are debating whether it's time
to clamp down on meth-related crime.

While Saskatchewan police agencies are quick to point out this
province's drug scene is still dominated largely by alcohol, marijuana
and cocaine, they can't deny the inroads crystal meth is making.

Statistics compiled by Saskatchewan RCMP show about nine reported
incidents of crystal meth trafficking in 2002. The next year, that
number doubled, then rose to about 45 in 2004. By comparison, reported
incidents of trafficking in marijuana and cocaine averaged about 100
and 150 respectively between 1998 and 2003.

"Our meth reality is going to be worse. We just don't know how much
worse," says Regina RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Brian Jones.

Saskatoon has a pretty good idea.

In late 2003, police in that city began to comprehensively track the
drug. "We are alarmed with what's going on here," says acting Insp.
Neil Wylie.

While five years ago there were no reported crystal meth "occurrences"
(times the drug was seized, found or turned over to police), a year
later there were seven, with four charges. By 2002 those numbers had
nearly doubled, then increased nine-fold a year later. In 2004, they
soared to 229 occurrences and 167 charges. Already in the first
quarter this year, occurrences in Saskatoon number 151 and charges 58.
Saskatoon also lays claim to the only discovery in this province of a
confirmed crystal meth lab, found in December 2003.

Regina police haven't kept comparable figures, but saw crystal meth
trafficking investigations rise to eight in 2004 from two in 2002.

In Prince Albert and area, the number of investigated incidents
involving crystal meth grew to 65 in 2004, resulting in 10 charges,
from one in 2001. Like Saskatoon, P.A.'s numbers spiked in 2003.

Sgt. Jerome Engele, a Saskatoon police officer and member of the
RCMP-municipal police integrated drug unit, is a veteran "narc" who
says he's seen drug trends before. But unlike cocaine or other drugs,
which show gradual increases, crystal meth's sharp rise is "very
concerning," he says.

Engele concedes awareness has likely upped enforcement, but he is
equally certain there are simply more meth addicts. Last year, 551
Saskatoon police files mentioned crystal meth, including two that
detailed the shootings by police of two armed meth addicts, one fatally.

>From a pure economics standpoint, it's easy to see how cheap, readily
made and highly addictive crystal meth could out-pace cocaine as the
hard drug of choice. While the smallest portion of cocaine sells for
$40, a "point" of meth costs $10 and packs a high that lasts nine to
12 times longer than cocaine.

Yet Engele has talked to hard-core cocaine users who say they won't
touch the stuff.

"You don't know what you're getting. And they certainly don't want to
be putting Drano (a chemical typically used to make meth) into their
body."

Police are hoping a lethal dose of enforcement and awareness will see
meth die a quick death, but at the same time they are preparing for
the possibility it won't.

Sandy Bergen awoke from a 10-day coma on her 20th birthday with a body
belonging to someone four times her age.

With 48 per cent of her heart destroyed by a crystal meth overdose,
Sandy, who had her first job at age 13, will likely never be fully
productive again and cannot bear a child.

"There's no medical explanation for why I'm here today," she says of
last year's brush with death.

The 21-year-old Biggar woman and her parents recently came to the
legislature to support Saskatchewan Party MLA June Draude's bill that
would enable parents to force their severely addicted children under
age 18 into treatment for a maximum 30 days. It would include users of
all drugs and alcohol.

"If we have a chance at saving any child, it not only benefits the
child but the parents and society as a whole," says Draude. Her bill,
now on hold, is fashioned after one passed by the Alberta government
that forces drug-addicted teens into supervised detox for five days.

Stephen Jenuth, a Calgary lawyer and president of the Alberta Civil
Liberties Association, opposed Alberta's move. He's not convinced
forced treatment works, and wonders if instead of helping addicts, it
has the opposite effect. He suggests existing legislation for
exceptional cases could serve the same purpose.

"The ability of a parent to try and convince a young person to engage
in treatment really requires some connection with the child and the
parent. Once you resort to going to court to have a child arrested and
forced to do this, that may be far too much," he says.

While the Saskatchewan government studies the problem and looks to
balance the rights of youth and the need to protect children, it has
"pushed the limits" of the existing Child and Family Services Act in
at least one case to get a teen into treatment.

The act allows authorities to apprehend youths age 17 and younger and
remove them to "a place of safety" if they are unable to remove
themselves from situations of harm. Marilyn Hedlund, executive
director the child and family services division, says that section of
the act has ordinarily been used "in very exceptional circumstances,"
usually for youth who have a cognitive, physical or intellectual
disability impairing their ability to make decisions or remove
themselves from harm.

"What is unusual about our current testing of this section is that
we're using it . . . to intervene where the youth is at serious risk
of harm from their own actions," says Hedlund.

Still, teens can't be held against their will.

"We would do everything we could to maintain the safety of the child
and engage them in a plan. But it doesn't include locking the door."

As he speaks about nearly losing his daughter, Stan Bergen is
convinced of the need for forced treatment. "If you leave them alone,
and they don't have any help at all, then what's going to happen?"

Politicians are also looking at other legal avenues to tame the meth
monster.

Everyone from Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco, to NDP Premier Lorne Calvert
and Conservative MP Dave Batters, are pressing the federal government
to make crystal meth a Schedule 1 drug, which carries a maximum
penalty of life for trafficking, instead of Schedule 3, which carries
a 10-year maximum.

Schedule 3 typically refers to less serious drugs, including
methamphetamine, LSD and ecstasy. Schedule 1 is reserved for those
deemed most dangerous, such as cocaine and heroin. But as one person
who works with the law points out, no one knew that methamphetamine
mixed with toxic chemicals would result in a drug more potent than
cocaine.

Regina lawyer Doug Andrews, who represented Regina drug dealer Terry
Nameth, notes Nemeth's sentence was on par with those for cocaine or
heroin trafficking. He calls the rhetoric over drug schedules
"vote-buying crap."

"It's the drug 'du jour' right now," says Andrews. "It's a bad drug,
but it's not really deserving of any special attention."

He adds that a schedule change would have little real effect because
maximum penalties are rarely imposed. A review of Saskatchewan
trafficking cases involving crystal meth shows penalties ranging from
conditional sentences to six years in prison.

According to a 2003 federal report, only 18 per cent of the drug
traffickers sentenced in 2000-01 were jailed for more than 24 months.

Federal lawyer Doug Curliss, who routinely prosecutes drug cases
before the province's top court, says changing the maximum penalty
would affect top-level offenders.

"The majority of people will still get less than 10 years. And of
course, it will also send a general message that the lawmakers view
this as more serious now than they did in the past or when it was
originally scheduled."

Moose Jaw police Chief Terry Coleman, president of the Saskatchewan
Association of Chiefs of Police, credits the crystal meth issue for
raising the profile of drugs in communities, but he's cautious about
losing sight of the bigger picture.

"It's not the only drug out there. And we shouldn't hijack the whole
drug issue with just one drug," he said.

Some legislators have mused about tightening controls on the readily
available chemicals used to cook up meth.

A lot of the focus has been on cold medicines containing
pseudoephedrine. Two years ago, the Saskatchewan College of
Pharmacists asked its members to monitor sales of such products. The
college's president, Bill Paterson, says no significant change has
been seen, although pharmacists are willing to put the drug behind the
counter like their counterparts in B.C. and Alberta if necessary.

"We don't want to make it impossible for the people that aren't
abusing it," he adds.

Some Saskatchewan retailers are in the midst of implementing the
MethWatch program, which trains staff to be alert to suspicious sales
of all products used to make crystal meth.

MethWatch spokesperson Gerry Harrington says the industry appreciates
its role in combating a serious social problem. But at the same time,
crystal meth in Canada is largely being produced in "superlabs" by
those getting their chemicals in bulk from manufacturers,
distributors, wholesalers, importers and exporters through loopholes
in federal regulations. He's sensing a "panic" around crystal meth.
Yet, if people aren't creating meth from retail products here, "it
becomes kind of ludicrous to slap restrictions on a very useful and
legal and legitimate product for what amounts to appearances," he says.

Still, MethWatch has a purpose even if it never dissuades a crystal
meth cook.

"If we have learned anything from the so-called war on drugs . . .
it's that focusing exclusively on the supply side of things has never
been shown to be an effective way of dealing with a drug problem,"
says Harrington. "It is about demand management. It's about awareness
and education. And meth has got to be the poster child for that."