INFORMATIVE PRESENTATION ON CRYSTAL METH AT W.C.H.S.

A Crystal Meth community awareness presentation was held at the Wynyard
Composite High School gym on the evening of Thursday, March 30.

This presentation was an informative session geared towards adults.
During the two hour program, Cecil Crowe-Buffalo and Melanie Moosemay,
who both work for Touchwood Tribal Council, took turns informing the
group on the horrors of Crystal Meth.

WCHS Principal, Blair Pope welcomed everyone and then read a poem (on
the right hand side of this page) written by a high school student
describing her life addicted to Crystal Meth.

First of all, Crow-Buffalo and Moosemay let the parents know the
different slang terms used to refer to Crystal Meth - a few examples
include peanut butter, nose candy, crank, ice, tweek, stovetop shards,
while lady, and go fast just to name a few.

They explained that Crystal Meth labs are easy to create, remove and
transport.

All the components needed can fit into a laundry hamper or Rubbermaid
container and all items can be purchased at a store with no problems.
These items include: gas line injector, brake cleaner (for the ether),
iodine, table salt, lithium, cold/asthma medication, battery acid,
antifreeze, anhydrous ammonia, coffee filters.

Some signs that a house may have Crystal Meth lab set up inside
include windows that are blacked out and garbage - a lot of it. For
every 1 kg of Crystal Meth, 7 kg of garbage are produced. The garbage
would be comprised of the containers for the chemicals used to make
the drug, razor blades, mirrors, straws, plastic tubes, syringes,
turkey basters, etc, all apparatus that is used to "do" the Crystal
Meth, which can be injected, snorted, smoked or ingested.

The drug can be purchased in many forms such as pink flakes, white
brownish glass, rock-like chunks, liquid form, capsules and peanut
butter like substance. Replicas of the drug in tiny zip-loc bags were
sent around to the parents in attendance, so they could see for
themselves, just what the drug looks like.

They suggested that if one suspects a house to have a Crystal Meth lab
situated inside, do not enter the dwelling. Most homes will be
booby-trapped so that all evidence is wiped out. Sometime, the light
switches are set up to start a fire or explode.

Crowe-Buffalo and Moosemay also went through some of the signs of Meth
use. Griding teeth, picking at the face, body or arms, hallucinations,
talking to objects, extreme amount of energy, no sleep for two or
three days (some have been known to go 21 days without sleeping,
eating or drinking water), dramatic weight loss, repetitive hand
movements, taking things apart, paranoia - fear of people watching
them, following them or trying to kill them, a body odour which is
similar to that of cat urine which is due to the anhydrous ammonia
used to complete the drug making process, and last but not least, the
victim of Crystal Meth becomes aggressive easily.

A person who begins taking Crystal Meth has the life-span of seven
years. If not helped, they will die.