190,000 PEOPLE IN B.C. HAVE USED CRYSTAL METH IN PAST YEAR

Report to Be Released Friday Says Drug Is Spreading Across Country

Crystal meth, the dangerous drug of choice for an increasing number of
regular drug users, is migrating across Canada from west to east, bringing
devastating health effects to its users and complex challenges to those
working to prevent its spread.

A new report on the drug's presence in western Canada will be presented
Friday to a special meeting of provincial government ministers and
representatives from U.S. border states, who are working to prevent the use
of crystal meth.

The report shows that British Columbia has the highest number of
methamphetamine users -- with about 190,000 people using the drug at least
once in the past year -- followed by Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
There is also evidence of increasing hospital admissions and police contact
with people high on the drug.

But while the report notes the unquestionable need for a comprehensive
strategy to combat crystal meth, the health and law enforcement experts who
contributed to it also say Canada is not in the midst of a meth crisis.

Street kids, party drug users and gay men are increasingly using crystal
meth because it's cheap and the high can last for days, but the report says
the drug is not catching on with other populations.

"Most people, if they're using methamphetamine, they're going to do it once
or twice and then they're going to quit," said Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C.'s
provincial health officer and a contributor to the report.

"We've just replaced the drug of choice with something that is cheaper and
longer-lasting, that's why it's nasty."

The drug, also known as jib or crank, curbs hunger and can keep the user
awake for days. Long-term use can lead to symptoms of psychosis, paranoia,
and depression.

A 2004 study showed that 5.1 per cent of B.C.'s population had used the
drug at least once during the previous year. In Alberta, four per cent of
the population -- or 108,000 people -- had used it; in Manitoba, three per
cent of the population -- or 33,400 people -- had used it; and in
Saskatchewan, 2.8 per cent of the population -- or 27,700 people -- had
used crystal meth at least once in the previous year.

Those numbers may sound alarmingly high, but Kendall put them in
perspective by comparing them to the rates of cocaine and crack use.

In B.C., studies show 7.3 per cent of the population has tried crystal meth
at least once in their lifetime, while 16.3 per cent has tried cocaine or
crack, Kendall said.

Street kids and club-goers make up the largest group of regular crystal
meth users, but the report says the drug also appeals to students,
athletes, waiters, long-distance drivers, and software programmers.

But the drug has not yet become a drug of choice for high school students
and the report says scare tactics and meth-specific campaigns aimed at that
age group will not be successful.

"What doesn't seem to work is the sort of overblown, overdramatization of
the dangers," Kendall said Wednesday in a phone interview. "Before we're
saying it's having a horrible effect on communities let's try and step back
and find out what it is doing to our communities."

In B.C., the number of deaths related to crystal-meth has been steadily
rising since 2000, when there were just two recorded by the coroners
service. In 2003, there were 12 meth-related deaths.

And in Victoria, the number of crystal meth users treated at the youth
detox centre there jumped from 11 per cent in 2000 to 61 per cent in 2003/2004.

The report is based on information gathered last November during a
three-day summit in Vancouver, where 250 delegates shared their expertise
and knowledge in an effort to put together a realistic, evidence-based
assessment of the crystal meth situation in the western provinces and
northern territories.

Dr. Doug McGhee, a representative from Victoria's youth and sexually
transmitted disease clinics, told the summit there is clear evidence the
problem is growing in his city.

"Among people admitted to emergency for psychosis in Victoria and Vancouver
Island, it used to be predominantly people suffering from bipolar disorder
and schizophrenia. Now it's 50-per-cent crystal meth users," McGhee told
the group.

Representatives from the RCMP shared with the summit their concerns that
the penalties for people making and dealing crystal meth are not stiff enough.

Sgt. Doug Culver, head of the RCMP's national chemical diversion program,
told the group that penalties associated with crystal meth are generally
lighter than those associated with marijuana and heroin.

Culver could not be reached Wednesday for comment, but Kendall said there
is a desire among law enforcement officials to reclassify crystal meth as a
dangerous drug, which would enable judges to hand out stiffer sentences to
dealers and people who make the drug.

Unlike marijuana operations, crystal meth labs can be set up nearly
anywhere -- in the back of a truck, a small apartment or hotel room -- and
can produce large amounts of the drug in a single day. The ingredients used
to "cook" crystal meth can be easily purchased at drug and hardware stores.

The authors of the report recommend regulating the chemicals used to make
crystal meth, with hopes it will make the ingredients less accessible and
therefore slow or disrupt the production of the drug.

Unsafe Speed:

190,000 British Columbians used crystal meth in the last year.

Nightclub-goers, street youth and gay men most at risk.

Deaths related to the drug steadily rising in B.C. since 2000.

Vancouver street youth who had tried amphetamine-type stimulants: 71%

Gay men surveyed in British Columbia who had used methamphetamine: 25.4%

British Columbians who had used methamphetamine in the last year: 5.1%

Duration of a crystal meth high: 10-12 hours