CRYSTAL METH TASK FORCE TAKES ACTION

Crystal Meth. The word strikes not only fear for the damage the drug
addicted can do to a community but fear for what it means for those
who are using it. The drug's potential to have serious consequences
has made the local Healthy Communities Committee take a proactive
stance in the establishment of a Crystal Meth Task Force.

"The purpose of the [subcommittee] is to improve and enhance the
quality of life in our community through partnerships, awareness and
action toward the eradication of Crystal Meth in Hope and area," says
Gerry Dyble, the chair of the Healthy Communities Committee and
executive director of the Hope and Area Transition Society.

The plan to help eradicate the drug from the community is through four
strategic levels known as the four pillars: prevention and education,
enforcement, treatment, and harm reduction. The action phase is a
step-by-step process to address the four pillars and ....will be a
12-month process that will begin in January.

The committee has the assistance of Hope council, the RCMP, the school
district, Free Rein, Hope Community Services (drug addiction), the
Transition House (family violence), the Fraser Health Authority, the
fire department and the Chamber of Commerce. "We have a very strong
network to draw from," says Dyble.

The first pillar is prevention and education, aimed at preventing
people from starting in the first place by educating the public.

The second pillar, enforcement, will not just crack down on users and
suppliers but will look at all the issues. "Enforcement is addressing
not just the actual act but taking a step backwards and looking at why
they started in the first place. For example we will look at the
schools and home life and see what triggered the usage," says Dyble.

However, "no one institution or place is the problem. You have to look
at all the issues and at society as a whole to address the factors
that make this drug so appealing, such as the glamorization through
Hollywood and the media," says Dyble. With many celebrities becoming
users of the drug it is often portrayed in a more glamorous light,
adds Dyble. An example of glamorizing the drug is through the referral
to it as the 'diet drug,' leading people to take it as a weight loss
tool.

The last two pillars have not yet had concrete strategies formed
around them by the task force, but they recognize the need for
treatment beds and the availability of drug and alcohol counselling
within the community in order for it to be successful.

"The treatment pillar is to help the people that are already using
while looking at the necessity of post treatment so that they have
options other than going back into the environment that could have
made them users in the first place. And, that support is not just for
the users but everyone that is associated with them, including their
friends and families," says Dyble.

The last pillar is harm reduction, aimed at encouraging users, if they
cannot stop entirely, to at least cut back gradually with the hope
that they will eventually stop.

"As we address each pillar it roles into the next pillar. But, the
initiatives and strategies are still going to be fluid. It is a living
document that is always changing in order to adapt and meet the needs
of the community," says Dyble.

In December of 2006 the committee will consider what further actions
should be taken, once the four pillars have been built. "The committee
will not dissolve after 12 months, not until we have reached our
vision of eradicating Crystal Meth in the community," says Dyble.

The task force was established in October through an application to
the UBCM, which granted the community $10,000 to bring education and
awareness to the Crystal Meth issue.