READY TO BEAT METH!

Revelstoke's Community Connections is taking a lead role in helping
the community combat the threat posed by crystal meth.

"Basically, we want to increase public knowledge and awareness to
prevent it from coming here," says Karley Trauzzi, who is
coordinating the agency's response.

She said in an interview last week that no one should make the
mistake of thinking that the highly addictive drug is not already
present in our community.

"It usually shows up as an additive in other drugs," Trauzzi said.
"But I wouldn't doubt that it's already here."

You can call it meth, ice, crystal or crank - it's a dangerous and
highly addictive drug by almost anyone's definition and while several
so-called recreational drugs have been present in Canadian
communities for decades, this one has a particularly unsavoury
reputation. The drug has been blamed for increases in domestic abuse
and violence and rising rates for crimes such as car thefts and break
and enters.

Community Connections began organizing its campaign after it was
awarded $10,000 in funding from the Union of British Columbia
Municipalities. The UBCM is administering $10 million in provincial
funding for a major, province-wide campaign.

The campaign was announced earlier this year. It is backed by mayors
and councils, including Revelstoke's, throughout the province. Late
last spring, Mayor Mark McKee and members of city Council came out in
favour of the plan after hearing about the dangers of crystal meth at
a meeting of the Okanagan Mainline Municipalities Association in Revelstoke.

There, they were briefed by RCMP drug investigators who warned them
of the threats the drug posed to the individuals who use it as well
as public security. Meth-amphetamines are, those Mounties said,
produced in large quantities in illicit laboratories and their trade
is, for the most part, controlled by organized gangs.

According to the information contained in the briefings, the
substances required to produce crystal meth are available in almost
any community. Some precursor chemicals can be acquired at local
hardware stores while others can be purchased over the counter at
local drug stores. That has prompted some stores to voluntarily
remove cough and cold drugs like Sudafed from their shelves or put
them behind the counter in order to keep an eye on sales of the
drugs. But the people who are producing large quantities of meth
aren't doing it by purchasing one or two packages of cold tablets at
their neighbourhood pharmacy. Instead they're ripping off large
amounts before they reach the retail market.

While no one, to the knowledge of local Mounties, is currently
producing illicit supplies of meth-amphetamine in the Revelstoke area
people, particularly impressionable young people, need to be prepared
for the possibility it could show up here in commercial quantities.

Trauzzi plans to do that in a number of different ways.

The first thing on her agenda is a play, called Cranked, by the Green
Thumb Theatre group that will be staged at Revelstoke Secondary
School on Nov. 17 at 9 a.m. Trauzzi is also planning to survey local
attitudes and knowledge about crank. The survey will be distributed
to all Grade 10 students at RSS and will be available at local
pharmacies, she said. Other initiatives will be announced as they near fruition.