FORUM FOCUSSES ON METH

A sparse crowd turned out at The Lester Center on Friday to
participate in a discussion about Crystal Meth.

The idea behind the information session was to bring in the experts in
order to educate the community. Those experts included Constable
Carolyn Arseneault of the RCMP Drug and Organized Crime Unit, North
District; Constable Steve Richards, of Community Policing; and Dale
McKinnon, of the Northern Health Authority, Mental Health and
Addictions Services. The evening featured presentations, panel
discussions and videos.

The most important message of the session was that there needs to be
discussions in the community, especially with regards to young people.
Youth use substances in riskier ways than older people, and it is
believed that if a person has reached adulthood and has not used
alcohol or other substances, they probably never will.

"I really feel passionate about this sort of thing, it's so insidious.
My age group, which is over 21, needs to talk to the under 21's. We as
a community need to talk, we need to talk to young people," said Kathy
Bedard, one of the organizers.

"If we think our own individual worlds are safe, what do we do with
our communities? We need to talk about it. We need to start talking
before we have a crisis," said Bedard.

Users like Meth because it elevates their mood, increases their
alertness, creates a high euphoria, increases energy and increases
movement and speech. However, the price to pay for those feelings is
much too high. Side effects include tooth decay, increased
blood-pressure and heart rate, anxiety, insomnia, paranoia, decreased
dopamine and serotonin levels, deep depression, fatigue, headaches,
convulsions, dehydration and death.