GANGS MOVE IN ON METH MARKET

Asian organized crime rings are muscling in on the rapidly growing
market for crystal meth in Alberta, according to the Criminal
Intelligence Service Alberta.

"Drug intelligence from virtually every source does tend to bear out
the resurgence of methamphetamine to the drug culture throughout
Alberta," states CISA's annual report, released Thursday.

In Calgary, the number of crystal meth-addicted teens being treated in
drug rehab clinics is also on the rise.

"They're very sick kids and they're very difficult to treat," said
Dean Vause, executive director of the Adolescent Addiction Recovery
Centre.

A recent survey reveals that out of AARC's 33 patients under the age
of 21, 17 were crystal meth users. Nine of those were smoking or
snorting it daily.

Aventa, an addiction treatment centre for women, is also seeing an
increase of methamphetamine users at its 36-bed facility, especially
in the past few months.

Some are as young as 16.

"We're seeing a number of young girls use pre-treatment beds and a lot
of them are on crystal meth," said Gaylene Heidt, Aventa's clinical
supervisor. "They're sicker when they come here than girls on other
drugs."

The wait for crystal meth to trickle down from northern Alberta is over.

On Thursday, Lethbridge police arrested a 24-year-old man after
finding him with 56 grams of meth. The drugs are worth $5,600, police
say.

Dustin Owen Dale Richards of Raymond is charged with two counts of
trafficking.

Since January in Calgary, officers have encountered 25 people using
the addictive, home-cooked methamphetamine.

In the first three months of 2003, it was only four.

"We haven't been caught unaware. We knew it was coming," said Calgary
Police Service Det. Nina Vaughn.

Smuggling seizures of a key chemical used for making crystal meth --
ephedrine -- are also rapidly escalating, according to CISA's report.

Cooked at home -- not imported like cocaine and heroin -- crystal meth
is easy to score, lasts longer, and has a long-established presence in
northern Alberta.

Border seizures of smuggled ephedrine, a cold-medicine chemical, are
rapidly escalating as well, CISA's report says.

More than 20 per cent of narcotics seizures involve ephedrine, and
CISA expects it to grow.

"I think we're just seeing the beginning of methamphetamine in this
province and it scares me," said Alberta Solicitor General Heather
Forsyth.

Crystal meth is a poisonous brew of chemicals found at any hardware
store or pharmacy.

According to AARC's survey, the young people in treatment in Calgary
describe feeling "dirty" and "fiendish" coming down from a meth high.

A cheap street drug that sells in cities for $10 a hit and $80 a gram,
it is capable of igniting rage in users.

Calgary police say they've already had an unsavoury taste of the
increase in violence.

"Where typically instead of a couple of police officers being able to
control somebody, it took six people," said Vaughn, adding there have
been "a couple of fairly major incidents."

"People are more easily provoked, and easily agitated. It's very
difficult to calm them down and to control them. They have very high
pain tolerance," she said.

To keep a step ahead of meth labs, police are spreading the word to
Calgary hardware stores and pharmacies to be on guard for customers
buying suspiciously large quantities of camp stove gas, iodine,
solvents and cold medicine.

One gram of the poisonous methamphetamine provides a high for eight to
12 hours.

In the world of designer club drugs like ecstacy and Special K
(ketamine), crystal meth seems tailor-made for street kids -- it takes
away the urge for sleeping and eating.

But it appeals to everyone, Vause says.

"I have every socio-economic strata in AARC," he said. "It's an
equal-opportunity destroyer. It's an evil drug."