METH IS THE NEW DRUG MENACE

My dad was remarkably liberal when it came to my teenage freedoms.
But when it came to drugs, he had one rule: "Don't touch them or
you'll be out on your butt with a suitcase." His methods worked for
me and so I've always felt confident that the right parenting and a
little luck could at the very least keep kids from becoming habitual
drug users.

I believed that when it came time to have my own kids I would handle
the issue of drugs with minimal concern. That was until recently when
I attended a college lecture on the physical impacts of
methamphetamines. Now I'm terrified.

This wasn't a high school "scare kids off drugs" lecture, it was
straight facts.

I knew that crystal meth, more commonly referred to simply as
"meth,-glass" or "ice," was a scary drug. But I thought it was just
another drug of the decade like Heroin was in the '70s, Cocaine in
the '80s and Ecstasy in the '90s. Unlike most drugs, which depend on
gradual addiction, meth relies on rapid addiction. It is the drug
dealer's dream: cheap and easy to make and brutally addictive. Many
other drugs are now being laced with meth to cut costs and increase
addiction.

It's a drug that rapidly sneaks into communities behind the backs of
authorities who are too busy worrying about the common drugs on the
street. Until recently, meth wasn't even considered a class A drug in
many parts of the world. The growing epidemic and deeper
understanding of its properties has changed that. It is now not only
a class A drug, it is THE class A drug. Its addictive qualities are
on a scale that we have never seen in previous drugs. Youth worker
Les Twentyman stated, "Heroin is nothing compared to this stuff."

It has overtaken cocaine, heroine and ecstasy to become the most
widely used hard drug in the U.S., and it is now conquering Canada,
moving west to east. Frighteningly, it is already finding a welcoming
reception in New Brunswick.

In 2005, police discovered meth destined specifically for the Quebec
and New Brunswick market. By 2006, New Brunswick was already being
used as an initial location for trafficking to other
destinations.

The way meth works is what makes it a real life-destroyer. It targets
the central nervous system, telling the brain to release dopamine,
causing a sense of euphoria. Gradually, it destroys the brain's
ability to transport or store dopamine on its own. The down feeling
when coming off a meth high is enough to make the user crave more and
in increased doses to get back to the original high state. A user may
go from 5 mg dosages to 1,000 mg in a one-year period.

"Once addicted, users struggle to feel pleasure without the drug, and
after quitting, they battle depression and cravings for years." This
frequently sends users back to the drug.

Advanced addicts often develop psychosis, violent behaviour, and
suffer internal organ damage, skin breakdown, dental decay and sexual
impairment. Google "pictures of meth users" if you want a real scare.
Be warned, it's not pretty.

Drug dealers like meth because it is made from ingredients that are
mostly accessible over the counter. Meth labs can be easily set up in
houses, apartments, garages or trailers deep in the woods. This
makes cracking down on meth more difficult than other hard drugs.

The RCMP reported to have seized 40 meth labs across Canada in 2004,
an increase of 2000 per cent since 1998, when only two labs were
seized. This is just the beginning.

Because of its development process, meth enters communities in much
greater amounts than other drugs. It's not just big cities finding
themselves with meth epidemics, small towns are also being targeted.

The fact that it's growing in popularity in New Brunswick right now
should set off alarm bells and attract political and media campaigns.

"In 2002, in New Brunswick, 10.9 per cent of people age 12 to 18 had
used amphetamines at least once during the 12 months preceding the
survey. In Nova Scotia, the figure was 9.3 per cent." What would this
year's statistics state?

Most of the current statistics available on meth come from the U.S.
and other countries. If this issue isn't taken more seriously, we
will likely end up with a problem far beyond our control. Drugs have
always been big business, but meth has taken a quick grip on our
youth due to its rapidity of addiction. If this is the new direction
of the narcotics business model, the next step may be a drug causing
instant, full-blown addiction.

We need to get a dialogue on the meth problem going now so that we
can develop a plan to combat its growing impact. The methamphetamine
summit that took place in Ontario this month is a promising start,
but what is being done in New Brunswick specifically?

With drugs like meth out there, raising kids has developed a whole
new aspect I wasn't prepared for. Are you?

John Millikin is a recent master's graduate in Political Philosophy
from Trinity College, Dublin.