WAGING WAR ON CRYSTAL METH USE

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE -- While use of the highly-addictive street drug
crystal methamphetamine has been growing rapidly across North
America, experts say its use in Portage la Prairie and area is still
relatively limited.

But that's no reason to be complacent, they add.

"What we've been hearing more about from our clients is that there
was more meth around actually two years ago, although indications are
that it is around," said Barry Rud, prevention education consultant
and rehabilitation counsellor at Addictions Foundation of Manitoba in
Portage la Prairie.

"I think it's got the potential to be a huge problem," Rud added.

Const. Dave Spakowski, Portage RCMP's media liaison and community
policing officer, says crystal meth is not widespread in the Portage
area, yet.

In an interview last November, Portage RCMP Sgt. Jim Mirza said he
could find only one report of a crystal meth seizure in Portage. That
occurred in 2003.

The detachment, however, is not taking the issue lightly.

"It's something that we are made aware of for sure, and I think it's
something that we're taking seriously," Spakowski said earlier this
month. "There is crystal meth here in Portage, but I wouldn't say
it's a real serious problem."

Targetting Youth

According to Rud, the typical crystal meth user is in his or her late
teens or early twenties. That makes informing youth about the effects
of crystal meth and other drugs a key concern for educators.

Marie Rohleder has been a guidance counsellor at Portage's Arthur
Meighen High School for 10 years.

"In my counselling experience, I've come across students (in Portage)
that have been involved with meth or other drug use," Rohleder said
on April 10.

While the drug's use is still relatively limited in the city, its use
nationally has been growing rapidly.

RCMP figures quoted in a March of 2005 documentary by CBC's The Fifth
Estate, show police seizures of crystal meth labs across Canada
jumped from four in 1998 to 37 in 2003.

Crystal meth, or `ice', are common street names for the drug
methamphetamine hydrochloride. It usually comes in white crystal-like
chunks, which are commonly heated and smoked by the user.

The drug is easily made in makeshift labs in kitchens, bathrooms or
basements. Standard ingredients include the cold remedy
pseudoephedrine, red phosphorus and iodine. Added to those
ingredients is a cocktail of dangerous chemicals such as ammonia and
paint thinner.

As a result of the production process, crystal meth labs discovered
by police across North America are literally toxic waste dumps. Some
estimates suggest for every 500 grams of crystal meth produced, 2.3
kilograms of hazardous waste are generated.

Governments across Canada have acted aggressively to control the
production and use of the illegal drug. Combatting the spread of
crystal meth was the focus of a meeting of western Canadian premiers
in 2005.

Last August, the federal government increased the maximum jail
sentence for producing and distributing methamphetamine from 10 years
to life in prison.

In Manitoba, the New Democratic government announced last fall a
$260,000 public education campaign to raise awareness of the dangers
associated with crystal meth use.

The province is also spending $6.7 million over the next three years
on new mental health and addictions services.

On March 6, Manitoba Healthy Living Minister Theresa Oswald announced
a plan that will allow parents to force their drug-addicted kids into
a five-day detoxification program to get them started on the road to
recovery.

In addition, pharmacies across the province have been required since
Jan. 15 to move 17 single-source ephedrine and pseudoephedrine
products behind the counter to make it more difficult to purchase the
common crystal meth ingredient.

Although Spakowski believes the crystal meth used in Portage is not
made locally, he says making it more difficult to get ingredients is
a good move.

"I think any kind of a proactive step that one can take to make it
harder for those who are making it is always a good step," he said.

Effects of crystal meth

According to the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, crystal meth users
experience a range of physical and psychological effects while under
the drug's influence and after it wears off.

Physical effects of the drug include hypertension, elevated body
temperature, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, insomnia and
kidney or liver damage.

Psychological affects can start with a sense of prolonged euphoria,
but deteriorate into hallucinations, exhaustion, paranoia,
schizophrenic thoughts, and long periods of depression that could
lead to suicide.

People in the addictions and education fields are being vigilant in
raising awareness about crystal meth despite its relatively low
profile in Portage because other drugs, such as cocaine, that can
lead to crystal meth use are known to be more prominent in the area.

Rohleder said crystal meth is not usually the first drug people try.

"I think there's other drugs that I would call `gateway' drugs to
meth," the school guidance counsellor said.

Rud agreed. He said there is often a so-called "career progression"
in which people "graduate" from one drug to another in order to
maintain the stimulation that was lost as their bodies build
tolerance to the earlier drugs.

Rud said such a progression could begin with cigarettes and then move
onto alcohol, marijuana, magic mushrooms and, in some cases, cocaine.
People who have developed a crystal meth addiction have told Rud
their problems started with marijuana and alcohol.

"Typically, methamphetamine use is sort of at the end of the career
path," Rud said.

For that reason, both he and Rohleder believe it is important for
media and educators to be careful about focusing their attention so
intently on crystal meth that other drugs are inadvertently sanctioned.

Rud said the attitude of "he's just smoking weed -- at least he's not
smoking ice" has to be avoided, since doing the former can eventually
lead to the latter.

Rud added ecstasy, a drug with similar characteristics to crystal
meth, is showing up more in Portage schools. More young adults are
also coming to AFM to seek help with cocaine dependence, he said. AFM
provides counselling to help people end their drug addictions.

"The concern that I have with that is the cocaine may well be the
stepping stone to the meth for many people," Rud said. Rud, Rohleder
and Spakowski want to make sure that doesn't happen.

Signs Of Drug Use

Rud said signs of a possible drug problem include a decline in school
performance, withdrawing from family and friends, losing interest in
hobbies, having difficulty sleeping, things start disappearing from
the home and new friends start to hang around. He cautions, however,
those signs do not necessarily mean someone is taking drugs.

If someone believes a friend, colleague or loved one might have a
problem, Rud recommends contacting AFM for guidance and simply
letting the person know you are concerned.

"The power of the expression of concern is huge," Rud said.

Rohleder said she can start the process of helping students with
addictions, adding Arthur Meighen's student peer helpers work hard to
help friends in trouble, in consultation with staff members.

She also said Portage la Prairie School Division programs like
Champions Mentoring Program and the grades 9 and 10 curriculum expose
students to the dangers and issues associated with drug use.

"I think the school division's doing a good job of that, right down
into the elementary (grades)," Rohleder said.

Spakowski said Portage RCMP holds drug awareness information sessions
for the community and runs an Adopt-a-Mountie program where police
officers give presentations in area schools. Spakowski also runs the
Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program for grades 5 and 6
students.

Spakowski said it is important to target kids at that age because
most have not yet been faced with the choice of using drugs. "It's
important to take the proactive approach before they're faced with
making those decisions."