CANADIAN CITIES MAY FEEL BESIEGED -- BUT THEIR WOES PALE BESIDE AMERICA'S

Fighting Back: Awareness Of The Damage Meth Can Do Is Sinking In

Communities across the country -- and the world -- are battling back
against meth.

In Greater Vancouver, police, government and health officials have met
twice to lay plans.

The Fraser Health Authority will release the 25-minute video Death By Jib,
directed by Michael Neitzel, this week. The anti-crystal documentary
features users talking about how the drug has affected them. It will be
available for viewing at health authority facilities and for teachers who
want to show it to their students.

RCMP in Kelowna report meth problems and use are skyrocketing. A group of
street-level youth in Prince George have banded together on their own
anti-meth campaign.

In Edmonton, a man who tried to drive a U-Haul truck between two lanes of
traffic, ruining numerous cars in the process, admitted in court in January
he was high on crystal and hadn't slept for nine days.

Saskatchewan wants to educate store owners on how to spot meth makers by
what they buy.

Saskatchewan MP Dave Batters and MPs from Manitoba are lobbying Ottawa to
reclassify crystal meth a Schedule 1 drug -- like heroin and cocaine.

If Justice Minister Irwin Cotler moves on the request, those sentenced for
trafficking in crystal would face a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Toronto, Montreal and Halifax are struggling to deal with meth woes in
their gay and street communities as it sweeps east across North America.

But Canada is still just playing catchup with the U.S.

National Clandestine Lab statistics list 525 meth-production sites busted
in 2004, 393 in Kentucky, and a staggering 1,018 in Missouri in 2004 alone.
Meth is known as the "state drug" of Arkansas and is a plague in Hawaii. In
Paris, Tex., meth is more prevalent than crack. Meth users are now the
fastest-growing segment of addicts looking for help in Atlanta.

The Center for the Study and Prevention of Substance Abuse at Nova
Southeastern University in Florida is tracking meth's boom in that state.
Crystal Meth Anonymous meetings in Chicago are now held five nights a week,
instead of just one.

Drug Enforcement Agency officials in New York State saw seizures of the
drug jump 31 per cent from 2003 to 2004.

And around the world, "tweakers," one of the names assigned to crystal-meth
addicts, are a population screaming to be reckoned with.

The United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime reported in 2003 that
amphetamine abuse was second only to cannabis abuse on the global level --
with approximately one per cent of the world's population (over 15), or
34.3 million people, using it.