POLICE SEE SURGE IN CRYSTAL METH USE

As Victoria authorities ponder a safe drug injection site, an
increasing number of downtown street people are getting high on a
dangerous substance without using needles.

Crystal meth, a cheap, addictive drug that has gained enormous
popularity in North America in the last few years is showing up among
the city's homeless and disadvantaged, a city police spokesman says.

Sgt. Darren Laur said the drug is being used by "kids with no
financial means" because it is so much cheaper than alternatives such
as cocaine and heroin.

"Twenty dollars worth of cocaine can keep you high for 30 to 40
minutes while $10 of crystal meth can keep you high for 10 hours,"
Laur said.

He estimates 20 to 30 dealers on downtown streets are peddling the
drug, more formally known as crystal methamphetamine.

The current issue of Visions: B.C.'s Mental Health and Addictions
Journal, says 10 per cent of Victoria high school students have tried
it, according to a 2003 survey. The journal also reports that 43 per
cent of youths visiting the Victoria Youth Empowerment Society were
users.

Laur credits an awareness campaign for so far limiting crystal meth's
impact on students in the region.

"It seems like our education seems to be working in our schools," he
said. "A lot of our youth know how dangerous and addictive it can be."

The message has been less successful with the homeless, though Laur
said use of the drug cuts across socio-economic lines.

The officer, who appeared before council last week, carries a kit that
shows the tools of the crystal meth user, including a sample of the
drug itself, which looks much like rock salt.

It is placed in the bowl of glass pipes where it is heated with a
high-powered lighter, of the type sold in cigar shops, giving off
fumes that are inhaled by the user.

The drug stimulates the nervous system, affecting perception, can
cause hallucinations and can make users act in extremely unpredictable
ways, Laur said.

Other impacts include potential brain damage and severe withdrawal
symptoms, which can cause depression, he said.

Some kids, attracted to the drug because it can help them lose weight,
do not realize how extremely addictive it is.

This can result in kids breaking and entering and stealing to pay for
another hit, even though it is an inexpensive drug.

Coun. Dean Fortin is worried enough about the track record of the drug
in the U.S. that he wants a task force, involving the city and school
authorities, established to stop the trend in its tracks.

"We want to get a handle on this before it becomes an epidemic here,"
Fortin said.

Council agreed to send him to Seattle to learn about what authorities
there are doing to deal with the issue. Charley Beresford, who chairs
the Greater Victoria school board, is also going.

Fortin said he wants to invite experts from the Seattle area to come
to Victoria to talk about their experience with crystal meth.