PERTH OFFICIAL EXPERT ON FIGHTING METH

DRUGS: Once Considered The Meth Capital Of Ontario, Perth County's
Collaborative Approach To Eradicating The Drug Labs Has Made It A
Model For Others

OTTAWA -- When mayors have a drug problem in their communities, they
call Dan Mathieson for advice.

Mathieson knows a thing or two about fighting dope and improving
public perception.

As mayor of Stratford, he woke up one morning in June 2005 with a
newspaper declaring his city and surrounding Perth County the "meth
capital" of Ontario.

"There were two trains of thought developed in the community,"
Mathieson said recently.

The community could either fire back at the newspaper or admit it had
a problem.

Choosing the latter, Mathieson helped form an anti-drug task force to
face the trouble head-on.

Today, the group has 30 members and Perth County, which in 2005 was
home to 12 meth-cooking labs, is no longer the meth capital.

Mathieson will be in the Ottawa area this week addressing a conference
organized by the Prescott-Russell Coalition Against Drugs, which is
trying to avoid the same drug stigma in the municipalities east of
Ottawa.

Mathieson figures it will be the 15th conference he has attended since
the war on meth started back home.

"We haven't been shy about raising the visibility of the issue,"
Mathieson said.

The task force has diminished the drug culture and the social impacts
of drug abuse and Mathieson said methamphetamine would no longer be
considered the top drug in the community. The number of addiction
cases recorded by emergency wards and doctors has decreased 30% from
its peak a few years ago, he said.

Since the spotlight was shone on Perth County, communities across the
province have been on high alert for meth, a drug that is highly
addictive with harsh withdrawal symptoms.

In the Ottawa area and in Prescott-Russell, police have increasingly
encountered meth masked as ecstasy.

The number of crystal meth seizures haven't been as frequent, but
Staff Sgt. Pete Gauthier, head of the Ottawa police drug squad, said
lab results on the seized pills frequently show quantities of the
addictive ingredient.

"There's definitely meth in Ottawa, no question," Gauthier said.

Mathieson said any community threatened by drugs needs to develop a
collaborative plan to reduce the impact.

"You have to be out front of the problem," Mathieson said. "You have
to admit you don't have all the answers and you have to have a tent
big enough for everyone to get in it."