LOCAL POLICE STILL STRUGGLING TO GRASP THE 'METH REALITY'

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 short 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 long 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 crystal meth users Harker and Froese provide a telling glimpse at
just why some call getting people hooked on the drug "making monsters."

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 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.

At present, police say the drug is concentrated in pockets. Regina police
haven't kept comparable figures to Saskatoon, but saw only eight crystal
meth trafficking investigations in 2004.

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

Sgt. Jerome Engele is a Saskatoon police officer and member of the
RCMP-municipal police integrated drug unit. As a veteran "narc," 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 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 purely economics standpoint, it's easy to see how cheap,
readily-made 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, at the same time they prepare 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, which 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. Not convinced forced
treatment works, he wonders about having the opposite effect intended and
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 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, the teen 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 monsters.

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. The
federal government is mulling over that idea, as well as one making it an
offence to possess chemicals used in making meth, but doesn't expect an
answer before the fall.

Schedule 3 typically refers to less serious drugs, including
methamphetamine, LSD and ecstasy. Schedule 1 is reserved for those deemed
most dangerous, like cocaine and heroin. But as one person who works with
the law points out, who knew 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 his 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 2003 federal study shows only 18 per cent of all drug
traffickers sentenced in 2000/2001 were jailed for more than 24 months. So
far in Saskatchewan, penalties for cases involving crystal meth trafficking
have ranged from conditional sentences to six years in prison.

Federal lawyer Doug Curliss, who routinely prosecutes drug cases before the
province's top court, concedes changing the maximum would primarily 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."

Western provinces and territories have given themselves until Oct. 1 to
come up with a plan restricting the sale of cold medicines containing
pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, a core ingredient in crystal meth production.

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 produced in "superlabs" by those getting their
chemicals in bulk from manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers
and exporters through loopholes in federal regulations, which Ottawa plans
to close. 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."