CRYSTAL METH: THE BATTLE IS ON CHALLENGE FOR THE COMMUNITY

The entire community -- parents, teachers, municipal leaders, police and
community groups -- have to get involved if people, particularly
impressionable students, are going to be convinced that meth amphetamine
and ecstasy are really killer poisons disguised as happy drugs.

"It is a community problem. We can't do it all ourselves," says Const.
Craig Douglass, one of two RCMP constables assigned to slow the spread of
the drugs in northern B.C. "There are just so many areas that meth gets
into, the community has to take control."

Douglass spoke to about 80 foster parents and professional people at a
meeting in Williams Lake September 21 arranged by the Cariboo Chilcotin
Family Resources. He was specifically asked to talk about meth amphetamine
and ecstasy because of the alarming increase in use of these drugs among
young people in B.C., with often devastating consequences.

He says meth and ecstasy are the choice of young people because they are
cheap and the effects last longer than more expensive drugs like cocaine.

For instance he says a hit of cocaine lasts 15 minutes and costs $20. A hit
of meth costs about $10 and lasts eight to 12 hours.

Meth and ecstasy are cheaper because they can be made easily using things
found on drugstore and supermarket shelves. Cocaine on the other hand has
to be imported and smuggled into the country.

Because of the way meth can be made, he says it is also harder for police
to control, which is why they need the cooperation of entire communities to
stop the spread of its use.

During the mid-1990s he says the use of meth and ecstasy spread rapidly
through the west coast of the U.S. to the point where whole communities
have been struggling with the aftermath.

During the past four years, he says use of the drugs has been spreading
rapidly through B.C.

"To my knowledge there hasn't been a meth lab discovered in Williams Lake
to this point, but it doesn't mean they are not there," says Douglass.

Williams Lake Community Policing liaison Const. David Skretting says that
at this point they are seeing very little meth use in the Williams Lake
area compared to marijuana use which is very high, and cocaine which is
certainly around.

"It's (meth) is not a serious problem yet. Hopefully it won't become one,"
says Skretting.

Douglass says the meth problem in B.C. has escalated to the point that
Education Minister Shirley Bond has initiated an education curriculum on
the topic. He says the program is optional for schools this year but will
become mandatory for students in Grade 7 through 10 next year.

He says surveys indicate that twice as many Grade 8 students are using
marijuana than were using this drug four years ago.

"Use of marijuana doubles the chance the students will try other drugs.
Nobody tries cocaine before they try marijuana," says Douglass. He says the
average age for students to start experimenting with drinking is now 11 and
12 years old. By 13 and 14 years old they are trying marijuana and by 17
years old they are trying meth and ecstasy.

He says parents need to be educated right along with teachers and students
about the dangers, because the problem spans all income and social brackets.