REPORT TO CABINET MINISTERS INFLATED B.C. METH PROBLEM

A report on crystal meth being presented today to health and justice
ministers from the western provinces and territories contains an error that
inflates the number of users in B.C. by about nine times.

The report, compiled by participants in a three-day summit in Vancouver
last November, says about 190,000 people in B.C. used some type of
amphetamine-type stimulant such as crystal meth in the year before the
survey was done.

In fact, the number reflects those who have used some such substance in
their lifetime.

Tim Stockwell, director of the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C., said
Thursday the mistake magnifies the real problem.

He said the error occurred because the report incorrectly cited an analysis
done by the Addiction Foundation of Manitoba. That analysis was based on a
survey asking people if they had ever used an amphetamine-type stimulant in
their lifetime, not just in the past year, as the report stated.

Stockwell said a more accurate estimate -- taken from the 2004 Canadian
Addictions Survey -- is that about 22,000, or 0.6 per cent of B.C.
residents, used an amphetamine-type stimulant in the past year, not 190,000.

And of those people, Stockwell said two-thirds would have only used the
substance once and "most of the amphetamines probably wouldn't have been
crystal meth at all."

Dietary pills and Ritalin also fall into the category of "amphetamine-type
stimulants."

Stockwell agrees the use of crystal meth is increasing in B.C., which is a
worrisome trend, but cautioned against panicking about the problem.

"It is important to keep this issue in perspective and not inflate
available estimates to give an exaggerated perception of this problem," he
said in a written statement.

Stockwell concedes the lower figures in the Canadian Addictions Survey are
probably under-estimated because there was a high refusal rate and the
survey was done by phone, meaning it did not reach homeless people or
street kids.

The report also gave figures for other western provinces that it said were
for the previous year's amphetamine-type usage, when in reality it was for
a lifetime's usage.

The lifetime numbers are four per cent of the population, or 108,000 people
in Alberta; three per cent in Manitoba or 33,400 people; 2.8 per cent in
Saskatchewan or 27,700 people.

The health and justice ministers are meeting in Regina today to discuss
policy and legislative changes that could be made to slow the spread of
crystal meth use.

And though the report being presented states clearly that Canada is not in
the midst of a crystal meth crisis, it confirms use of the drug is on the
rise and is spreading across Canada from west to east.

Pat Johnson, the mother of a meth-addicted son, takes issue with the idea
that there is not a meth crisis in Canada.

In a letter she wrote Thursday to The Vancouver Sun, Johnson called for
fewer studies and more treatment centres.

"A lot of families are dealing in private with the devastating effects of
crystal meth use by their child. Their lives are in crisis mode on a daily
basis," Johnson wrote.

"They are not part of any statistics or study. There is not the access to
the treatment that is necessary to save their kids from the long term
effects of this drug."