OILPATCH CITY SEES GROWING DRUG PROBLEM

The death of a 13-year-old Estevan girl from an overdose of ecstasy
this summer highlights the growing drug problem in a city reaping the
benefits of the oil boom, police in the southeast Saskatchewan city
say.

"With the population growth and the oil boom and whatnot we are seeing
an increase in everything else -- our drug problem and our crime rates
are going up. Our (crime) statistics are going up -- it's
unbelievable," said Estevan city police Sgt. Murray Cowan.

"(Illicit drugs) have become a huge problem here -- cocaine and
ecstasy and, of course, marijuana has always been here."

The July 25 death of the young girl from a drug overdose and the
hospitalization of her teenage friend, who was on the same drugs, was
a huge wake-up call for the community, Cowan said.

Police are not releasing the name of the girl or her female
friend.

On Wednesday, police arrested a 16-year-old male on a charge of drug
trafficking in a controlled substance.

The youth, who cannot be named, has been released on strict conditions
and is to make his first court appearance in Estevan on Nov. 13.

Cowan noted police are trying to determine whether the drugs the young
girl took are somehow connected to a batch of ecstasy that was sold
this July on the streets of Winnipeg and is linked to a drug overdose
in that city.

Winnipeg police issued a warning July 26 after a 15-year-old boy died
in that city after taking ecstasy that was laced with methamphetamine.
Several other youth ended up in hospital this past summer.

In January, American drug authorities alerted police drug enforcement
officers the illicit party drug laced with methamphetamine was being
introduced on the streets on both sides of the border.

"I can't confirm, as of yet, that it came from there, but it is
definitely something we are looking into," Cowan said, adding some of
the ecstasy pills seized by police have been sent away for forensic
analysis.

As a result of this tragedy, Cowan said city police have stepped up
public awareness and education programs in the school and in the community.

"This young girl's death had a huge impact on the community and opened
some eyes in the community. People in the community have come to
realize we have a big problem here," Cowan said, noting with plenty of
money flowing into the city so, too, come problems with drugs.

"The best thing I think we can do at this point is to education the
public, especially the kids, as to the dangers of the drugs and the
risks that they take when they use them and try to discourage them."