CRYSTAL DEATH: METH A DEADLY DRUG

It's cheaper, more addictive and deadlier than crack cocaine. And crystal
meth, also known as ice" or glass," is no longer just a problem on
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside or out in the burbs. It's popular and
plentiful on the North Shore - and teenagers seem particularly at risk.

It's a problem," explained West Vancouver youth outreach work Jan Riddell,
who says she's seen a spike in the use of the deadly, highly addictive drug
in the past two or three years among West Vancouver teens. Certainly in the
last year even more so."

Added Riddell, a youth worker for a decade, Youth that are using crystal
meth seem to go down harder and faster than they would if they were using
other drugs. It has become more readily available for youth of all ages."

Despite all the negative publicity and halting statistics that surround the
drug like a dark fog, teenagers - who hail from just about every postal
code in North and West Vancouver - are still experimenting with the drug.
And most who do become addicted.

Crystal meth, a synthetic methamphetamine that stimulates the nervous
system to produce a blissful high that sometimes lasts as long as 14 hours,
was once a drug popular with truckers to stay awake and alert and in the
gay community. It's now more mainstream.

Believe it or not even with all the negative press and the education and
awareness that we have tried to raise in the community and with youth in
the school about the dangers associated with meth use, some youth still see
it as just such a great high, such an intense high. The way they describe
it, it's such an incredibly pleasurable high. It's so highly addictive,"
Riddell added.

The insidious spread of the drug has been accelerated by the fact that many
youngsters may be unwittingly trying crystal meth - thinking they are using
the popular rave drug ecstasy.

It's cheaper and easier to make crystal meth. They're disguising it as
other drugs. Kids might think they're getting ecstasy but they're not,"
explained Riddell, who works at the Ambleside Youth Centre, which offers
several programs for youth.

For many, it seems hard to reconcile the fact that North Shore teens are
using crystal meth.

I think [most people] would be [surprised], I don't know why they would
be," Riddell said. So many people are surprised that there's dysfunction
and pain in families in West Vancouver, but why? Money doesn't take away
all of those problems. It might help to mask them a little longer but it
certainly doesn't alleviate [the problems]," she said.

And the problems associated to crystal meth, which can be smoked, snorted,
or injected, are really just starting to surface.

This issue is so huge. You really need hours with me to really understand
the scope of what we see and what we deal with in terms of the brain damage
and ongoing psychosis even in youth that we work with that have used
relatively minimal amounts of crystal meth," Riddell said. Yet they are
continuing to experience - sometimes a year or two after they've stopped
using - things like visions, voices, all sorts of minor psychotic breaks
but they're still having them. They call them the shadow figures. That's
chronic, and they weren't necessarily hardcore users. They were
recreational crystal meth users. It's very, very frightening. We've had a
few youth just recently out of West Van that have ended up in long-term
psychiatric institutions because of their crystal meth use."

WVPD Sgt. Paul Skelton says there's no doubt crystal meth has had an impact
on the community, both directly and indirectly, but says it's difficult to
determine how many kids are using it.

[It's] hard to say," he said. Most of the people we are dealing with are
either self-admitted methamphetamine addicts or found in possession of
crystal meth and tend to come from outside West Vancouver. Those are the
people we deal with officially."

Skelton said the individuals on the police radar typically commit identity
theft, using modified mailbox keys to steal people's mail inside apartment
buildings.

That's the bread and butter of a crystal meth addict. Quite often crystal
meth addicts are involved in residential break-and-enters and
theft-from-auto or stealing or being found in stolen vehicles from West
Vancouver," he said.

Police have busted three crystal meth labs in recent years. It doesn't take
much to start a clandestine lab: Recipes for the drug are widely available
on the 'Net and ingredients are easily available, things like ephedrine,
which is contained in over-the-counter medications, drain cleaner and
antifreeze.

The last one we discovered was in the Lower British Properties," Skelton
said, adding that in 2001 police busted a truck that had all the equipment
for a methamphetamine lab that was rolling through West Vancouver.

Still, Skelton doesn't believe meth has become the drug of choice amongst
teenagers.I still think the drug of choice by far in West Vancouver is
alcohol and marijuana, followed by cocaine and other rave-type drugs," he
noted.

We're just beginning to see a spike," added North Vancouver RCMP Const.
John MacAdam.

But from my experience and from what I've been seeing we haven't seen a
significant number of youth that are on crystal meth over here. The people
that are on meth over here are generally older addicts that have probably
most likely been addicted to other things and are now addicted to crystal meth.

Most of the addicts we deal with aren't just one type of addict. They have
multiple addictions."

North Shore Salvation Army community ministries director Peter Defehr is on
the front lines. In fact, he's one of the few people on the North Shore who
doesn't shake his head when asked if crystal meth is becoming prevalent in
these parts. He already knows it has.

The unfortunate part of it is that the kids who are getting into the
experimental stages of their lives, to get on to this stuff once, a very
high percentage get hooked on the first use and the rest are hooked on
second use by guarantee," he said. We see it all too frequently. It's
widespread. It's in every walk of life that we know of, it's coming from
every financial background, and it's something that's not restricted to the
impoverished."

Defehr says many youngsters he's had a chance to talk to use meth to mask
deeper troubles. From the information we have it's an escape from reality
and this is very cheap. For five bucks you can buy a 12-hour hit. It's
readily available."

He's also one of the few people on the North Shore to witness firsthand the
fallout from the drug.

Homelessness, obviously the crime wave because they have to support the
habit and the mental issues that go along with it. They lose what god gave
them as brains. And it happens so quickly. Everything is bent on getting
that next fix. And then, of course, the other thing is the prostitution.
It's another form of a crime wave how they obliterate their bodies with
disease and everything else based on the fact that they're selling their
own bodies for that fundraising project to find the next hit. It's not an
isolated incident," he shrugged.

Defehr said education is important to mitigate the danger of the drug, but
admits that's just part of the solution. It is a process of education but
then also getting rehab available to them instantly, for those who meet
that window of opportunity. We have so little [youth recovery programs.]
This is our youth we're talking about. These are kids."

Defehr points to a pilot project in Maple Ridge that tackled the problem of
meth addiction - and related byproducts like homelessness - thanks to the
Meadowridge Rotary Club. A multi-tiered effort, involving police, the
municipality and other community stakeholders, the task force is working on
education, prevention, rehabilitation and enforcement. Defehr would like to
see a similar program in North Vancouver.

Yesterday, Defehr and Sue Cook, a concerned resident from the Lower
Lonsdale area, hosted a drug awareness meeting at the Salvation Army Hall
on 12th and Lonsdale. Gord and Mary Robson, the Meadowridge Rotary Club
members who helped galvanize community support for the crystal meth action
plan in Maple Ridge, were scheduled to present a 40-minute video entitled
Life or Meth: A Community Takes Action.

District Coun. Jim Cuthbert, who had a chance to screen the video at the
Lower Mainland Municipal Association meeting in Whistler earlier this year,
doesn't deny that crystal meth is a problem on the North Shore. I believe
it is. It's not surprising given its occurrence in other communities," he said.

After viewing the Life or Meth video he said, I was surprised to learn
about the extent of the problem, especially among younger people. I think
we can use the Maple Ridge model here."

Cuthbert also noted that the lack of drug detox or rehab beds on the North
Shore is problematic. That's certainly an issue."