PREVENTION AND AWARENESS PROJECT TARGETS LETHAL DRUG

Crystal Methamphetamine Can Potentially Do All of the Above and More,
Which Is Why the North Okanagan Crystal Meth Prevention and Awareness
Project Was Recently Formed.

Through government funding, North Okanagan social service providers
and other members of the community are being educated on the impact
of crystal meth and prevention and awareness. The project uses
research primarily from the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of
Technologies' own crystal meth project, Prevention, Awareness and
Community Education (PACE).

The local project's goal is to take a pro-active approach, by
educating the public before meth becomes a problem in the area and
possibly prevent the spread of its destructive wrath.

While meth is increasingly making headlines and creating major
concerns within communities all over the world, its presence is still
fairly small in the North Okanagan.

Through discussions with authority figures, physicians, those in
close contact with back alley drug users and drug users themselves,
each of them say that crystal meth is nowhere near as evident as
drugs such as cocaine, marijuana or ecstasy.

But that's not to say it isn't here or that it will remain hidden.

"Is it around? You bet. Is it an epidemic yet? No. But notice how I
say yet," said Rachael Neuhaus, Vernon Community Policing Office co-ordinator.

Local research by the Project on Adolescent Trajectories and Health
shows that within the Vernon School District alone, 2.5 per cent of
students report using crystal meth.