A CHEAP THRILL, A COSTLY ADDICTION

Paying The Price: Grim Toll Of Methamphetamine-Related Deaths Picks Up Steam

The number of British Columbians who have died with methamphetamine in
their systems has more than doubled in the past year -- and police warn
there's every indication the grim toll will continue its rapid rise.

B.C. Coroners Service statistics taken from toxicology tests show that 33
people died with the drug in their systems in 2004, 15 in 2003, nine in
2002, five in 2001 and three in 2000. Of the 33 deaths last year, 29 were
men and four women.

Is there any reason to believe the number of victims will decline this year?

"Absolutely not," says RCMP Cpl. Scott Rintoul. "We are seeing an increase
in the use, and this drug is so deadly. You're not playing with something
benign. It's shocking."

Last year, Vancouver topped the fatality list with 12 deaths.

Nanaimo followed with three (none was recorded in the four years prior),
Surrey with two and Victoria with one -- also a first for B.C.'s capital.

Deaths in the Fraser Valley region tripled to nine from 2003 to 2004, while
Vancouver Island saw an increase from one to four.

For the first time, Burns Lake, Beaverdell, Delta, Hope, Williams Lake,
Maple Ridge, Nanaimo, Port Coquitlam and Victoria have recorded deaths in
which the deceased had been using methamphetamine.

Of the 33 deaths in B.C. last year, 22 were deemed accidental. Of that
number, six were mixed drug overdoses, six were car accidents and three
were meth overdoses. Three suicide victims had meth in their toxicology
results, as did one murder victim and two people who died of natural causes.

The coroner's office has yet to classify five of the fatalities.

The numbers all point to a disturbing increase in methamphetamine use that
is supported both by official statistics and anecdotal evidence on the street.

Rintoul describes Greater Vancouver as the "crystal meth capital of Canada
. . . The availability is unreal. Is [it] a lot higher than we think?
Definitely."

One of the reasons for the increase is that meth is easy to obtain and is
relatively cheap compared with drugs like crack and cocaine.

In the 15 years since it first appeared on the rave scene, crystal meth has
"completely taken over," says one user, an eight-year addict.

"It's running rampant," says another.

Jacques, who battled a 10-year addiction before kicking the habit last
summer, says: "I've never seen such escalation. It's the drug of choice out
there now."

Since 1999, the number of people seeking community addiction services as a
result of amphetamine abuse has nearly doubled, from 933 to 1,687 in 2003.

Amphetamine-related calls to the B.C. Alcohol and Drug Information and
Referral Service have also climbed from one to five per cent between May
2002 and May 2004.

The explosive growth in meth use is reflected in the number of labs raided
by the RCMP's clandestine lab team.

In 2003, Sgt. Mike Harding and his crew took apart 11 meth labs and two
ecstasy producers.

In 2004, the team was in action at 19 meth sites and five ecstasy labs.

So far this year, Harding says, three meth labs have been dismantled, which
means 2005 is on track to be a banner year.

"We've had them in farm buildings, private residences, highrises, trucks,
box labs in mini-storage [units]," Harding says. "We get them everywhere."

Most of the illegal labs were major producers, churning out 10 or more
pounds. A typical dose of one-10th of a gram sells for $10 to $20. Harding
says a pound (454 grams) costs $250 to $500 to make and can sell for as
much as $8,000.

Rintoul says most labs are linked to organized Asian crime gangs.

Most were discovered outside city limits in rural areas of Surrey,
Abbotsford, Langley and Maple Ridge, where the intense cat-urine and
chemical smell is less likely to bother neighbours, Harding says.

It's when so-called "superlabs" are replaced by smaller operations that
Rintoul's skin really crawls.

Authorities in Washington state, for example, raided 54 labs in 1994. More
than 1,800 of them were located in 2001.

Superlabs in the U.S. have been replaced by what the Mounties' Harding
calls the "Beavis and Butthead" variety.

The small, stovetop operations produce an extremely crude, but potentially
deadly, product and are far tougher for police to locate than the larger
labs. If that trend toward tiny labs happens here, Rintoul warns that
"we're in huge trouble."

Sitting in his Vancouver office, a small pile of seized meth in little
baggies on the desk in front of him, Rintoul says many drug users may not
even be aware they are putting crystal meth into their systems.

In 2004, RCMP across B.C. began to test seized pills and powders being sold
as ecstasy. Fifty per cent of the tests revealed the product sold was in
fact a cocktail of drugs. Some included ephedrine, some caffeine -- but
more than half included meth.