DECLARE WAR NOW

A police constable in Victoria is quoted on a pamphlet about crystal
meth saying: "If there was ever a drug to go to war on, this is the one."

By all that is known about crystal meth, he's right.

It turns users into addicts instantly. It can drain a person of
conscience. It can create unlikely, violent criminals. It can eat
away at a user's health until he looks like a sagging, decrepit man
30 years his senior.

It certainly seems like a drug to fight. The dilemma is how do you
wage a war on something that most people don't see.

How do you justify addressing this drug when cocaine is much more widely used?

How do we spend resources and time on something that only affects a
small portion of the population?

Those concerns are justifiable, but the reason we need to wage war on
crystal meth is because if we don't it will take your child or mine
- -- or your father, or your grandmother.

We don't need to panic. But we can't be complacent.

At a community forum in Kelowna last week, there were politicians and
members of organizations and churches listening intently about the
horrors of the drug and how other communities dealt with it.

The goal is to organize and develop a plan for Kelowna. It's the
right thing to do.

There are meth labs in Kelowna that produce the drug cheaply from
disgusting substances such as rat poison. It's also produced by
organized criminals and sold for $20 to $25 a hit.

Kids as young as 11 have become addicts and 13 is a prime target age.
But it can grab anyone at any age.

This is not a drug that should be left to the RCMP to handle on the
streets using several officers just to restrain one person on meth.
It's not something we should just throw at Interior Health to sweep
all addicts off into recovery.

We can't expect the courts to throw in harsh sentences to solve the problem.

Strategically, it's a lot easier to keep something at bay than get
rid of it when it's taken over.

Let's declare war now.

- --Kelowna Capital News