UBCM CALLS FOR METH, POT ACTION

Delegates started off the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention Wednesday
with a call for provincial help to deal with their two main community drug
problems, crystal meth addiction and marijuana grow operations.

Led by delegates from Vancouver Island, the convention unanimously endorsed
a resolution calling for increased education about the hazards of
methamphetamine use and on-demand detox beds for addicts who are seeking
help to get off the drug.

Esquimalt councillor Ruth Lane told delegates about a recent tour of
Victoria streets with B.C. Solicitor-General John Les, in which they met
young people using meth.

"One hundred per cent of those kids said, get me off this drug, this
poison," she said.

The problem is that there are only five beds for youth drug detox for all
of Vancouver Island.

Saanich councillor Bob Leslie said education is needed in schools to reach
the pre-teens who are now being exposed to the drug and don't understand
its health hazards.

"It's the 13, 14, 15-year-old boys and girls being open on the street with
sales," he said. "Mentally they can be ruined for life."

A delegate from the District of Kent gave an example of a "catch and
release" effect of law enforcement. A meth addict broke into his mother's
home, she called 9-1-1, but police released him. He broke in again and cut
himself, threatening suicide, but he wasn't held for medical reasons, and
broke in a third time. "She eventually had to flee the home."

The UBCM also endorsed resolutions from Kelowna and Abbotsford aimed at
eliminating residential grow operations. Kelowna called for a
provincially-funded pilot project in Abbotsford and Surrey to be extended
province-wide.

The pilot project used a team of electrical inspectors, fire and police
staff to conduct safety inspections of grow houses, and shut them down
based on municipal fire code and other regulations.

Abbotsford Mayor Mary Reeves received unanimous support for her community's
call for better regulation of sales of hydroponic systems used in marijuana
grows. Municipalities want sellers of hydroponic equipment to be required
to submit records of customers and transactions to local police, similar to
regulations governing pawnshops and secondhand stores.

The resolution notes that children are present in about 20 per cent of
marijuana grow operations, which often contain hazards such as weapons,
booby-traps and other drugs as well as fire hazards associated with wiring
and hot lights.