TASK FORCE COMBATS METH

Crystal meth operations have yet to lay siege to this region.

A newly created task force wants to keep it that way.

The Addiction Network of the Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration
Network wants to keep methamphetamine operations from settling in
Sarnia-Lambton and the surrounding areas.

The eight-member group, representing emergency services, municipal
council and health-care workers from Lambton, Chatham-Kent and Essex
counties, wants to address the use of meth and other prevalent drugs
in a proactive manner.

"Through these three counties it is not a big problem," said Willy Van
Klooster, executive director of Westover Treatment Centre in
Thamesville. "What we would really love to do is set up a system that
discourages those people from coming in and starting to make it and
sell it."

Methamphetamine, known in its most popular form as crystal meth, is a
highly addictive drug.

"It's very cheap and it's a very quick high," Van Klooster
said.

The high from a $20 hit can last for 12 hours.

Several of the key ingredients are corrosive materials, such as
fertilizer, drain cleaner and paint thinner. They are found
over-the-counter, but can have dangerous health effects. Instructions
for producing crystal meth can be easily found on the Internet.

Within the past two years, Van Klooster said the number of people
treated for methamphetamine addiction in the area has increased from
one or two per cent of drug users to five per cent.

Although it appears to be small meth operations in the area at the
moment, Van Klooster said organized crime units are starting to join
the business and establish multi-kilo labs.

Less than a two-hour drive away, police have busted 17 crystal meth
labs in the Stratford and Perth County area in the past two years.

In June, the McGuinty government announced more than $2 million in
funding to combat the problem.

Stratford Mayor Dan Matheson, who is the co-chairperson for the Perth
County Task Force, was among the guest speakers.

"We don't see it as a big issue yet," Van Klooster said. "If labs get
established, very quickly the numbers go up."

Rural areas are appealing for meth labs because of the low traffic and
access to fertilizer, another ingredient used in the drug. Processing
meth also creates a dour odour easily detected in high-density areas.

John Zarebski, program consultant for the Centre of Addictions and
Mental Health at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, said local
communities can learn a lot from Stratford formerly known as the meth
capital of the world which managed to reduce the prevalence of meth
use in Perth County.

The task force will be meeting in early 2008 to develop a drug
strategy for the three counties.

Earlier this year in Sarnia-Lambton more than 40 community partners
embarked on the most exhaustive drug study ever undertaken in
Sarnia-Lambton.

The group created a 20-page policy draft, focusing on prevention,
education and co-ordination of addiction services.