METH ADDICTS WREAK HAVOC AT HOSPITAL

ridge meadows hospital can't contain its meth addicts

Maple Ridge-Mission MLA Randy Hawes said he's been in touch with
Solicitor General John Les about it, and is hoping a solution can be
found ASAP.

Hawes said he has spoken to Les regarding the need for a "holding
place for people that are in drug psychosis and considered dangerous."

Crystal methamphetamine users in the area, he said, are presenting at
the local emergency department and putting staff at risk.

Those addicts, said Hawes, end up trapped in "no-man's land" and
there's no place for them to go.

"They are violent and they are a medical problem...they're not a
police problem, but the hospital's not equipped for that," he told
The TIMES on Monday.

What is needed, added Hawes, is a place that police can take people
suffering from drug psychosis where there is medical help as well as
appropriate restraints.

"The old Vancouver Pre-Trial Centre is one of the sites that was
discussed," Hawes said.

The Liberal MLA said he has spoken to many doctors and nurses who
have indicated that crystal meth-induced psychosis is a significant
concern in the local emergency room.

He suggested that this problem is a new one.

"This stuff, this crystal meth, it's producing a new breed of
psychosis," he said.

"From the provincial perspective I'm trying to push to get some solution."