METH 'RAVAGING' TOWNS IN B.C.

As of 2003, 11% of all admissions to community-addictions services in B.C.
were for meth misuse, up from four per cent in 1999.

Fast, cheap and out of control. Methamphetamine is ripping through B.C.
communities and across all demographics, from street kids to suburban
housewives. The reasons, say police, counsellors and addicts, are
relatively simple. And the list is long.

Meth is cheap and easy to make using ingredients you can buy in your local
hardware store. A new user will feel a sense of accomplishment and
satisfaction, energy and purpose. They can work harder for longer. Meth
enhances sex. It feels great.

"It's very addictive," says 25-year veteran cop Sgt. Walter Argent, who
works in Vancouver's downtown core. "There's no particular socio-economic
background you need to be from to be on this stuff."

And, says Argent, in Vancouver it's easily available. Just like in
Chilliwack, Mission, Abbotsford and Squamish, where as many as half of drug
exhibits seized by police in recent years come back from government labs
identified as meth, according to RCMP drug-awareness Cpl. Scott Rintoul.

Victoria's Youth Empowerment Society is tracking what it calls "a vast
increase in crystal methamphetamine use among youth."

It found that 11 per cent of its clients in 2000-01 were meth users. By
2003-04, the figure was 63 per cent. As of March 11, 143 of the 267 young
people referred to the program in 2005 reported using meth.

In Kamloops, youth drug counsellor Bob Hughes has watched the number of
meth-addicted young people coming to his facility nearly double in the past
year alone.

"[Meth] is ravaging Kamloops," he says simply.

Richmond addictions counsellor Dr. Ray Baker says he's seen meth addiction
in the hospitality industry, in construction, forestry, fishing, the
medical profession, law, among firefighters.

Name the job and meth is there.

It showed up last year as the drug of choice for a ministerial assistant
working for the provincial government.

The addiction rate may be highest among street youth, but it's by no means
limited to them.

Health Canada chemist Richard Laing, who tests drug samples seized by
police, says: "In almost all areas of the Lower Mainland, there's been a
modest to significant increase in meth [seized since 1998]."

A 2003 survey by the McCreary Centre Society determined that just four per
cent of 30,500 high school students questioned had ever used amphetamines.
But a smaller study in 2003, conducted by Victoria GP Doug McGhee, found
that an average of five per cent of students in Grades 9 through 12 had
tried methamphetamines.

However, McGhee notes, 12 per cent (including the five per cent of meth
users) reported taking ecstasy. Considering RCMP reports that more than
half of ecstasy seized in 2004 contained meth, that means 10 per cent are
actually using meth.

"It's higher than the five per cent reported," McGhee says. "The prevalence
might be as high as one in 10 kids in high school -- and that's two years ago."

mramsey@png.canwest.com

IS IT ECSTASY OR IS IT CRYSTAL METH?

Crystal meth is replacing ecstasy as the drug used by teenagers and young
adults in the rave and dance scene, police say. It's cheaper, at $10 for a
"point" or about one-tenth of a gram. An ecstasy hit, or tablet, can cost
twice as much. The RCMP also say that some drugs seized at raves that were
sold as ecstasy were, in fact, crystal meth. They say some dealers give out
"free samples" in hopes of hooking new customers.

* As of 2003, 11 per cent of all admissions to community addictions
services in B.C. were for meth misuse, up from four per cent in 1999.

WHERE TO GO FOR HELP

Kaiser Foundation: www.kaiserfoundation.ca

B.C. Partners for Mental Health: www.heretohelp.ca

Prevention Source B.C.: www.preventionsource.bc.ca

Early Psychosis Intervention: www.psychosissucks.ca

Crystal Meth Anonymous:

totallyflysista@hotmail.com

scoot_dog81@hotmail.com

Narcotics Anonymous: www.bcrscna.bc.ca/meetings/listings

Covenant House: www.covenanthousebc.org

Crystal Recovery: www.crystalrecovery.com

Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse: www.ccsa.ca

Watari Youth Day Treatment Program: 604-438-3755

Family Services of Greater Vancouver: 604-872-4349

Narconon Detox Centre: 1-866-266-6616

Methamphetamine Response Committee: 604-736-2033