EDMONTON ON WAY TO BEING ALBERTA'S CRYSTAL METH CENTRE

Dangerous Drug Spreading Throughout Province

RED DEER - More than a third of Edmonton's front-line drug, health and
community workers say the city has a problem with crystal
methamphetamine -- a cheap and highly addictive drug that has
devastated communities in the United States and is spreading in Canada.

In the first attempt to measure the extent of the problem in Alberta,
36 per cent of those who work with crystal meth users in Edmonton told
University of Alberta researchers the drug is a problem in the capital.

Half as many said Calgary has a problem and four per cent noted a
problem in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

Study author Cameron Wild polled 400 drug educators, health and
community service providers, government workers and law enforcement
officials.

"The study was designed to capture their perceptions of the issue,"
Wild said.

"The best evidence that the problem is increasing comes from the
front-line workers who are engaged in policing and health care," Wild
said.

He said the growing number of meth-related hospital visits and police
busts are key indicators that meth use is increasing in the province.

"But it's just one piece of the puzzle," he said. "We don't yet have a
good handle on the number of people who are using meth in Alberta."

Six per cent of adults seeking treatment for drug abuse in Alberta say
meth is their primary drug of concern. In Edmonton, that number rises
to 10 per cent. Among Edmonton youth, it rises further to 12 per cent,
second only to cannabis.

Wild released his findings Monday at a workshop hosted by the
Solicitor General's Department and the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Commission in Red Deer.

More than 300 people are attending the two-day conference aimed at
helping gauge the scope of the meth use.

"We're finding more and more meth in Edmonton," said Det. Darcy Strang
of Edmonton Police Services. "The problem is slowly growing."

Strang has worked undercover for three years, buying meth on Edmonton
streets, talking with meth users and monitoring the drug's prevalence.
He says the market is flooded.

"Three years ago I bought meth for $210 a gram. Today I can buy it for
$50 a gram," he said.

Edmonton police have busted three superlabs, which can produce up to
seven kilograms of the drug in 24 hours. "You don't have superlabs
where people aren't using meth," Strang said.

In 1999, police found, purchased and busted people for possession of
crystal meth 56 times. By 2003 that number of discoveries and arrests
had risen to 887.

In 2002, the RCMP opened 164 meth trafficking files in Alberta, 12
times the number five years ago.

Strang believes organized crime is behind the superlabs, and says his
street sources tell him Edmonton meth is distributed throughout the
province.

"We're finding the same trends in Edmonton that were occurring in the
United States 15 years ago," Strang said. "The U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency people we talked to two years ago told us what was going to
happen. It has come true."

Most of the meth on Edmonton streets is made by "red P" cooks, who
work in clandestine labs using red phosphorus -- the substance used to
make match striker pads, flares and tracer bullets -- and other
chemicals to turn ephedrine and pseudo-ephedrine into crystal meth.

Red phosphorus and other chemicals used to make meth are not regulated
in Canada. Neither are drugs like Sudafed, which can also be used to
make crystal meth.

Strang said Edmonton cooks aren't yet doing "pill pulls" -- using
over-the-counter drugs to make meth -- but he worked with the Alberta
College of Pharmacists which voted in July to bring the drugs behind
the counter and to monitor their use.

Both Strang and U of A's Wild say better collection of statistics is
key to understanding and curbing the growth of meth use in Alberta.

"There is some worrisome evidence that there may be an increasing
problem, but we can't state that with confidence because information
as to meth use and abuse is recorded in different systems," Wild said.

"We need to reconcile the anecdotes with the way we collect data
systematically." He says researchers need better statistics from
hospitals, treatment providers, social workers and police.

In 2005, Edmonton police will start collecting data from beat cops on
routine calls. If meth or other drugs are at the root of a crime,
police will take note.

"It's a frightening drug," Solicitor General Heather Forsyth said. "We
know there's a problem, and we have to be vigilant. This is a
community problem. The community has to get involved."