THE MENACE OF CRYSTAL METH AND POLITICIANS ADDICTED TO THEIR SCRIPT

Don't you just love it when the best-laid plans of politicians fall apart
under the pressure of electioneering?

In Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair was sailing serenely on message to a
third successive victory as leader of the Labour Party when a leaked
document revealed he was warned by one of his own ministers that the
invasion of Iraq was quite possibly illegal.

As we all know, Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush marched off to war
with perhaps the best of intentions -- but, as the public in both countries
now knows, under utterly false pretences.

Whether this bombshell is enough to topple the resilient Blair remains to
be seen on May 5.

However, it is encouraging that, in this era of extreme political
manipulation, the banana skins are still lying there for the unwary.

Here at home, as my colleague Michael Smyth has reminded us, Premier Gordon
Campbell is a past master at diverting uncomfortable questions, stripping
them of any negative context and cleverly turning them in his favour.

Just as former U.S. President Bill Clinton first won the White House with
the mantra, "it's the economy, stupid," successful politicians have long
learnt to stick adamantly to their focus-group-tested message.

It's perhaps no surprise then that, when Province reporter Matthew Ramsey
was researching his recent series on crystal methamphetamine, he got no
response from Premier Campbell's office to repeated requests for input.

Ramsey wanted to know what plans Campbell's government might have to deal
with the awful menace of a drug that is wrecking the lives of so many young
people in this province.

I was sitting in the audience Tuesday night in Kamloops at a
Province-organized forum on crystal meth when two tearful mothers came to
the microphone to share their stories of what the drug had done to their
families.

There were tears in the eyes of many in the audience, including mine, as
the moms sobbed out their frustrations at finding nowhere to turn for help
as they watched their young daughters' brains scrambled by this poisonous
concoction.

And the truth is that, according to all the experts, there is a shameful
lack of treatment facilities for crystal meth addicts in B.C.

Not all of these addicts want or seek help, granted. But those who do
should not be asked to wait. Treatment must be there on demand.

This drug is killing people, for God's sake.

And yet, with this evil menace lurking in the background, glad-handing
politicians solicit our votes with a monotonous recitation of PR-honed
homilies to our booming economy, our bright futures, our unbounded prosperity.

The tragedy is that you're unlikely to hear the words "crystal meth"
uttered anywhere on the campaign trail.

It's not in the script.

Maybe the script needs rewriting.