METH PROBLEM CRYSTALLIZING IN NORTH

A bust of the area's first methamphetamine drug lab in Terrace could be a
sign of things to come for northern communities including Prince Rupert.

"People don't just wake up one day and decide to use methamphetamines,"
said Cpl. Mike Tivers, non-commissioned officer in charge of the general
investigative and drug sections for the Terrace RCMP. "Over time it grows
to a certain percentage of the populace."

The drug section NCO said that it would be difficult to determine where the
drugs were going specifically, but he would not be surprised if they found
their way to Kitimat, Smithers, the Queen Charlottes or Prince Rupert.

"I would venture to say it's a supply for part of the area," said Tivers of
the several hundred grams of meth seized from an address on Lazelle Avenue
after a house fire.

Police were alerted to the clandestine laboratory or "clan lab" after
firefighters extinguished the fire and found large amounts of glassware and
solvents.

One of the problems facing RCMP in dealing with the issue is that few
seizures of the drug have been made and information about clandestine drug
activity in general is at a minimum.

"Generally this is a drug used by young people," said Tivers. "They're
quite reluctant to talk to us about it."

However, the effects on a community can be devastating.

"Generally when meth is out in the community, the property crime has a
significant jump," he said. "It can be a significant factor [in increased
crime]."

Tivers also remarked that the cooking process involved in making the drug
leaves behind a potentially lethal gas.

"It's similar to what was used in Zyclon B by the Nazi's," he said.

The human costs can also be staggering, he said.

"A high percentage of people when they take it are hooked," said Tivers.
"There's many documented instances where women have neglected their
children, they don't need to eat so they don't feed their kids. I can't
think of an uglier drug."

This week the B.C. Coroner's Service also released a report bringing to
light the growing problem of methamphetamine-related deaths.

The report stated that while there was only two meth-related deaths in
2000, there were four in 2001, seven in 2002, 12 last year and already six
in the first three months of 2004.

"The problems go in an exponential fashion," he said, "assaults, property
crime, you name it. If the numbers persist you'll get about 30 deaths this
year."

Last week RCMP held a town hall meeting in Terrace to discuss the use of
methamphetamines and the effect it can have on the community. Staff
Sergeant Chuck Doucet, Vancouver Drug Awareness Services, discussed the
fact that the propagation of drugs in a community can lead to an increase
in crime as well as an increase in the severity of crimes that are being
committed.

Despite only two days notice, nearly 250 people showed up to the meeting.

"The police can't do it all," said Tivers. "We need the public to be out
there. They have to take ownership of this problem."

And the problem is only getting worse, he said.

"A few years ago you could have counted [the labs] on the fingers of one
hand. If we found one from a fire there's another three or four out there."

In 2003, police clandestine lab teams in California busted some 788
methamphetamine producing facilities. Similarly, Washington State has seen
an increase from a few lab busts ten years ago to several hundred a year,
said Tivers.

The proliferation of the drug is due in part to the ease with which
non-technical or scientific individuals can produce the drug, with
information being readily available on the internet.

"They tell you how you can do it," he said. "If you go on the internet and
type ?making meth' you'll get like 28,000 hits. We found this same
information at the [meth lab] house."

Suggested items to use in the production of methamphetamine include engine
starting fluid, toilet cleaning products, lye and Muriatic acid, a highly
corrosive substance that can cause serious injury if it comes into contact
with the eyes or skin.

"There's nothing natural about methamphetamine," Tivers said. "Most of the
chemicals are carcinogenic or toxic."

The drug can be produced in under 15 steps and is then smoked, injected or
snorted. On the street it has a value of almost $140 a gram. A price markup
of three to four times its production cost also makes it attractive to
criminal elements.

"It's such a deadly a substance for the users, the people producing it and
the community," he said. "Methamphetamine potentially has an impact on
everybody.

That's why it's so scary."