COLUMN UNDERPLAYED SERIOUSNESS OF CRYSTAL METH

Re: The Meth Myth, Peter McKnight, Sept. 24

I was appalled when I read this column. I'm the principal of alternate
programs for the Fraser Cascade School District and I have worked with
high-risk youth for 25 years. I see the impact of crystal meth on our
children on a daily basis; chronic absenteeism from school, bewildered
parents, children often absent from the home, trading sex for drugs and
engaging in criminal behaviour.

The Surrey School District recently released a report showing that 10 per
cent of 14,000 students surveyed have tried meth. The municipality has
struck a task force to research this spiralling problem. You bet they're
concerned!

Sixty per cent of marijuana seized by the Vancouver Police Department has
been "dusted" with meth and more than half of the seizures of ecstasy
contained crystal meth. The provincial government has just allocated $7
million to fight crystal meth. Meth is the No. 1 drug problem in small-town
America.

According to Dr. Shaohua Lu, addiction psychiatrist for the Vancouver
Coastal Health Authority, the Lower Mainland Youth Drug Survey found that
19 per cent of street youth have used meth; seven to eight per cent had
used meth within the previous 30 days. Meth can trigger bipolar disorder,
especially if there's a propensity to psychiatric disorders.

As neighbourhoods, communities and as society at-large, we need to
collectively work together to prevent this scourge from undermining the
well-being of our most precious resource, our children.

Steve Fachler

Fraser Cascade School District