CRYSTAL METH A PROBLEM AT THE LAKE, JUST LIKE THE REST OF B.C.

If anyone doubted people at Cowichan Lake are concerned about drugs
in their community, especially crystal meth, that was proven wrong
last Wednesday night.

It was standing room only in Lake Cowichan's lower Centennial Hall as
250 people attended the three-hour crystal meth forum.

The forum heard about the devastating impact of what was described as
a destructive drug on so many levels of the community, from the
personal to the community costs.

It's not a pretty picture, but it's a picture we must look at, said
Cpl. Beth Blackburn of the RCMP Drug and Organized Crime Awareness
Service.

"The damage is huge," said Blackburn, who presented a variety of
statistics, slides and videos to support her claim. Some of the most
shocking slides were of a woman addicted to crystal meth whose skin
was covered with marks and scabs, including some on her back large
enough to put a finger in.

Other slides showed rotting teeth as another side effect of crystal
meth use.

Blackburn said the results of crystal meth use impact the individual,
the family, friends and the community.

The individual ends up ruining his or her health, gets involved in
crime and often winds up in jail or prison. Family is affected by the
emotional trauma of seeing a loved one's life in a tail spin.

The community is affected by the loss of a productive citizen, the
cost of the crimes committed and suffers some of the same trauma as
the family.

Multiply the costs if there's a crystal meth lab in your community.

"We know meth's being made somewhere here," said Blackburn. "We know
that. We also know there's crystal meth use here."

Cpl. Brian Brown of the Lake Cowichan RCMP, who helped put the forum
on, said the toughest challenge the police have is finding enough
evidence to make a conviction stick. That costs money and time,
neither of which they have much of.

"It's a very difficult situation," said Brown. "To a large extent,
our hands are tied. The fact is, we need the community's help in
stopping all drug use."

Dr. Darryl Plecas, RCMP research chair at the University College of
the Fraser Valley's School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, said
the odds are some youth at Cowichan Lake use crystal meth. He said
surveys show that at least eight percent of youth in B.C. are using
crystal meth, most at least once a week, in school as much as out of
school.

"Those kids most likely to use it are disconnected from family,
disconnected from school, disconnected from friends and disconnected
from the community," said Plecas. "With the use of crystal meth, the
disconnection gets worse."

He said in the United States and European countries, drug use has
gone down since 1996, down in every grade level and with every kind
of drug, as well as with alcohol and cigarettes.

He added that in the U.S., while drug use and production has gone
down, young peoples' awareness of the harms of drugs went up.

Not so in B.C. "In B.C. it's going in the opposite direction," said
Plecas. "Why is that? It's almost like we're sitting on the fence
with this. We don't seem to have the government thrust and we don't
have a public outrage.

"Up to now sentencing has been pretty tame. The same with grow-ops.
Conditional sentences don't work. In England it's called catch and
convict. In B.C. it's catch and release."

Plecas said people can do something about it by talking to the
politicians and the judges.

"Arguably, we don't have enough education in our schools and from
parents."

Plecas urged parents to use the Internet to get information on
crystal meth and other drugs, but cautioned that many Web sites will
say these drugs are beneficial. One Web site he suggested is
www.methresources.gov, which has many links to other good sites.

Web site www.methwatch.ca was suggested by Blackburn.

Some of the youth who attended the forum say they learned a lot.

"I didn't think this many people would come," said 12-year-old Jack
Knudsen, who listened intently for most of the evening. "I didn't
think this many people cared. I guess I was wrong."

Sasha Brint said she learned that drugs are not good for you. "I
learned that crystal meth is bad," she said. "I'm never going to do
it. I don't like drugs."

Jeff Baker, principal at Lake Cowichan Secondary School, said he was
amazed at the turnout and the information provided. He said the forum
can only be positive.

"At the school we have zero tolerance with drugs," said Baker. "We
also provide counselling."

Baker said he agrees with the comment from Plecas that one of the
best ways of keeping youth away from drugs is to keep them in school
and learning.