SASKATOON DRUG FIGHT SAID WEAK

Jean McGillivray will never forget the first time she tried crystal
meth four years ago -- an unbelievable experience that later drove her
to hit rock bottom.

"It's that high, that awesome high and it's something you keep
reaching and trying to get but you never ever get again," said the
recovering addict from Naicam, 170 kilometres east of Saskatoon.

Crystal methamphetamine is a highly-addictive street drug, created in
makeshift labs from common chemicals and pharmaceuticals. McGillivray
had used alcohol, pot and cocaine but said crystal meth was instantly
addictive and easier to get then buying cigarettes at the store. She
began depending on the drug more and more, losing thousands of dollars
and cashing in her RRSPs to pay for her habit.

"It all went to drugs. Just hit bottom and lost everything," explained
McGillivray.

In the last eight months, she has been in recovery, trying to kick the
addiction that plagues her. McGillivray admitted it has been tough,
with a relapse a month ago.

Part of her recovery is speaking at schools, telling students about
the dangers of trying crystal meth. McGillivray brought her message to
the legislature Friday, hoping to show through her own experience that
government needs to do more to stop the "epidemic".

"They say a drug is a drug and I realize that but this is meth. It is
different, the way it affects you. You're off the deep end, you try
anything you can to get your next high. People are stealing and people
can't work because they think about their next high and doing it all
the time," said McGillivray.

Saskatchewan Party MLA June Draude said the government isn't being
proactive in addressing and stopping the prevalence of the drug. She
questioned the NDP on their lack of a specific strategy to deal with
crystal meth and the need for more long-term treatment and detox beds.

"I want them to have a strategy, first of all, to deal with the
education and prevention. We have to deal with health and justice and
education and to have an umbrella strategy so that doctors and nurses
and policemen and educators can say, 'This is what we have to show
people, this is what we have to tell them'," Draude said to reporters
following question period.

Health Minister John Nilson said his government does have a plan that
is implemented across a number of departments and covers education,
prevention, enforcement and addiction services. Nilson said his
government has been working on the crystal meth issue for years and is
willing to put all of the research and information into a
comprehensive document.

"We've been working on that for a number of months to have an overall
plan or strategy or study that would compile all these kinds of
information so in fact people can see where they are in one place," he
stated.

Nilson said a detox centre designed for giving patients immediate
short-term help and assessment before further rehabilitation will be
opening in Saskatoon shortly.