METH FIGHT HITS DUNCAN STREETS

'Breaking The Cycle' of crystal meth addiction in Duncan and North
Cowichan is the aim of a program that received provincial funding last
week.

Duncan council leads the program and has three-quarters of $19,275 in
funding from the Union of B.C. Municipalities. The rest will arrive
after a report satisfies UBCM brass that the money was well spent
fighting Cowichan's meth scourge.

BTC involves three parts. Education components will see fall public
forums -- one in Duncan, the other in Chemainus -- when professionals
will explore meth addiction and recovery. Panelists may include an
addictions counselor, an RCMP officer, a doctor and a recovering
addict. An addictions counselor will also visit Valley schools.

Part two of BTC is experiential. A Cowichan intervention team will
visit Vancouver for three days to interview meth users in the Downtown
Eastside, and at the Salvation Army's Harbour Lights rehab centre.
They'll also talk to former addicts, prostitutes, convicts and HIV
patients. Team findings will be shared with Valley councillors and the
public via a film or photo essay.

"Now we'll get together with North Cowichan council, the RCMP and
other stakeholders to discuss specifics of timing because we want to
reach school kids," Mayor Phil Kent says.

Eventual council policies could stop the sale of meth ingredients, he
notes.

Grant spadework was done by city treasurer Peter deVerteuil who was
contacted by Island addictions counselor Pierre Morais about mounting
a project like BTC.

"How it will precisely work is being worked out," says de Verteuil
who's awaiting Morais' formal proposal.

Results-based BTC will also gage awareness.

"There might not be one definitive statistic to point to," cautions de
Verteuil. "Many things can become addictive if they touch the right
nerves."

That's why Christina Martens, of Cowichan and Mid-Island branches of
the Canadian Mental Health Association, signals it's too bad Breaking
the Cycle revolves only on meth.

"If they'd stop focusing on one drug on the radar screen we'd be
better off."

CMHA research shows meth's "not as big as alcohol or pot but that's
just in the youth population," she says, urging input from Duncan
mental health treatment workers.

"We had to key on this (meth) to get the funding," says de Verteuil,
"but I'm sure we'll be talking to them (mental health workers) over
the course of putting this together."

Proactivity is key, adds Kent.

"We want to cut meth use off early by preventing people from going
down that horrifying road."

Martens also wants more frontline funding.

"If we don't have treatment for addicts, how are you nipping anything
in the bud?"