PROVINCE NEEDS TO DEAL WITH THE NIGHTMARE ON METH STREET

Two days ago, they went missing again. No big deal, nothing unusual, they
just left home, like they always have. The son had spent so long
threatening his father and swearing at him that now the dad was virtually
numb to it and had accepted it as a normal part of the atmosphere in the
house. The daughter, whose parents once held such hope for, also took off,
just days after she had come to her mother and told her she needed help and
wanted to go into rehab.

There is nothing new about this, nothing at all. It is just another chapter
in the Nightmare on Meth Street that has gone beyond visiting Regina; it
has moved in, and it is taking over.

You know, there are no tears, or sounds of anger, or emotion coming from
the father as he tells me his son is gone again, gone in search of another
dance with crystal meth. He speaks as if he is telling you his son had gone
to the corner store for a loaf of bread. He is so used to it, the hurt and
the despair have been replaced by almost an indifference, the last defence
mechanism available to maintain sanity and to keep on living as good a life
as you can. "I knew it was only a matter of time before he took off again,"
said the father. "It's nothing new. It's the same thing every time. But one
of these times, I know he won't be coming home. He'll be dead. I wouldn't
be surprised if this is the time."

Crystal meth, the $10-a-pop high that lasts for about 12 hours, made from
toxic chemicals, is creeping into Regina's youth at a pace that is
alarming. They go into it without any idea of what it will do to them, how
it will leave them, how it will destroy their minds and their bodies, how
eventually it will kill them. The high is so incredibly delicious that it
also robs from them common sense. Instead of running away from it, they run
into it. And once they are into it, they become lost souls who one minute
can be happy and carefree and the next moment cruel and violent.

A lady calls me from northwest Regina, where crystal meth is more than just
evident. Her kids are not on it, but she sees it happening around her. "My
heart just breaks at what I see," she says. "I see the kids buying it on
the street, right here in our neighbourhood. One night, my husband and I
were sitting on the front steps. A car drove by and slowed down in front of
the house two doors down from us, and the horn was honked. The car went
around the block and stopped at the corner. A kid came out of the house,
ran over to the car, gave the driver some money and the driver gave him his
crystal meth. I know that's what it was, I just know. They don't care who
sees them. They could care less. I've phoned the police and they said there
is not much they can do about it. If they came to the house and got the
kid, he would be released fast because he would be a young offender. The
police say all they can do is take the kid to the police station, tell him
not to do the drug, and take him home. What is that going to do? Something
has to be done to stop this stuff. It's terrible. I just feel terrible
every time I see it happening and it happens all the time."

Regina is not alone in what is going to become an epidemic in this
province, indeed throughout the whole world. Crystal meth use is close to
being out of control in North Dakota. The Moose Jaw city police department
is so concerned about the rise in crystal meth use in that city, it has
created a special crystal meth page on its Web site. Go to it sometime.

Parents of children on crystal meth feel helpless and ignored. But now,
more and more, they are emerging from their self-imposed silence to tell
their horror stories, and that is what they are, horror stories. They are
looking desperately to the federal government and the provincial government
to take steps to provide treatment centres for their kids and to harden the
laws that deal with the drug dealers and the people who sell the drug.

They will be watching carefully, and hopefully, when the legislative
session begins on Monday in Regina, something will come from it. They will
be watching to see if anybody in government is listening to their cries for
help. Everybody will be watching.