FORUM ON CRYSTAL METH

Crystal Meth Is An Epidemic

Society needs to do a better job of responding to new drugs.

At least that is according to Dr. Johan Wouterloot, who spoke to more
than 50 people at last Saturday's "Let's Be Crystal Clear" forum at
Victory Hall.

In an interview with The Review prior to his speech, Wouterloot said
society is always behind when it comes to dealing with a new drug epidemic.

That is what has happened with Crystal Meth, which Wouterloot
referred to as an "epidemic."

"Even as we are responding to this, the next epidemic is upon us."

Wouterloot has been a family physician in Mission for 25 years, but
has been working in addiction medicine for the past 10 years.

He started in addiction medicine when a couple of his patients asked
him to prescribe methadone for their heroin addictions.

"I saw what a difference that made in their lives," he said. "I
realized that it was easy to make a huge difference with little
effort and resources, where every other area of medicine seemed to
take a lot of effort and resources to make a little difference."

Wouterloot talked about the impact Crystal Meth is having on people's lives.

"It is much more difficult to engage people in treatment," he said.
"Most of them feel they have the problem under control."

However, because it is a stimulant people get caught in the trap of
feeling they need the drug to get things done in their lives.

"They think they need it to solve the problems in their lives," he
said. "It is ironic because it helps them solve problems, but it
destoys their lives."

An interesting aspect to Crystal Meth is that Wouterloot says it is a
fairly easy to drug to detox from. However, the relapse rate is extremely high.

"The depression and loss of energy can go on for a very long time," he said.

However, the problem with Crystal Meth is it causes neurological damage.

"The initial use in not very destructive, but in three or four years
there will be neurological destruction."

Another challenge in tackling the Crystal Meth problem is how cheap
and easy it is to get.

"Crystal Meth is the drug of the less well off," he said.

A recent study found that 20 per cent of people misuse substances. Of
that two-thirds was alcohol related and one-third was other
substances. Of that, Crystal Meth makes up about five per cent.

"Crystal Meth has been substituted for cocaine," Wouterloot said. "We
have found that crack cocaine use, which was so high 10 years ago,
has gone down. You can call Crystal Meth an epidemic."

That said, however, Wouterloot was clear that while society is
getting organized to tackle awareness of this drug, the next drug is
already here.

He said a drug called Oxycodine is already gaining prominence.

"We are not very good at responding quickly," he said. "We need to be faster."

He said there has to be better coordination with everyone so the next
drug can be tackled before it becomes an epidemic.