HANOVER RESIDENTS SPEAK OUT ABOUT LOCAL DRUG PROBLEM

HANOVER -- Four-hundred local residents crushed into a hot civic
theatre in Hanover Monday night to hear about methamphetamine abuse.
Fifty more were turned away at the door, while people sat in the
aisles, at the end of the stage and stood in the doorway to hear
about a drug problem that has spread across North America and has
made a home in communities like Hanover.

The meeting, planned by Hanover Police Services, Public Health and
Victim Services, was a start, said people after the meeting.

First on the agenda was 23-year-old A.J. Scott, who spoke with The
Post last week.

He told a hushed audience about his experiences with drugs, including
methamphetamine, and how he'd quit doing drugs two months ago.
Thunderous applause thanked him for his candid remarks and his
courage in speaking out about the drug.

Dr. Neal Stretch of Hanover spoke next, telling the crowd that he has
observed methamphetamine to be a rural problem, more than an urban one.

"Smaller communities, communities our size," he said. "But a bit of
caring may lead the way."

Stretch explained the history of amphetamines, which have been around
for a long time.

He noted that it was used in the Second World War and that truck
drivers have used amphetamine to stay awake during long hauls. It's
also used to lose weight, and in small, controlled doses, it is used
for behaviour disorders in children.

"Meth is popular and has seen a rapid onset," Stretch said. "It
depends how you get it into you (smoke, inject, swallow) as to how
quickly the rush hits."

A rush, he said, can last a few minutes, but one can maintain the
high for many hours. "But the problem is the down is as big as the
high," he remarked. "It makes you feel so bad that you want to get high again."

Stretch explained that chemically, amphetamine speeds everything up.
It causes the heart, kidneys, brain, etc. to go 10 times faster than normal.

Because of this, he said, it can cause similar tendencies to Parkinson Disease.

One of the chemical messengers in the brain is dopamine.
Methamphetamine changes the way dopamine is released to the body, and
eventually the hormone fades away, Stretch said. One result is
Parkinson-type symptoms.

Another result is heart irregularity, which can lead to cardiac
arrest. As well, the lungs can be overworked, and the brain stops
functioning normally.

"Your brain and ability to function change with meth use," he said.
Often, users suffer stroke.

"With meth, either your heart or your brain poops out. If that
doesn't happen, there are more subtle changes and you literally go
crazy. You lose control of your emotions, you can't think, you do
stupid things, you can't rationalize. You lose your mind."

Stretch added the emergency departments at hospitals see scary
occurrences. Those on the drug can suffer paranoia and delusions and
can be violent and aggressive.

"They can have superhuman power, and they lose control over what they
think they can or can't do."

Sergeant Ron Shaidle of Hanover Police Services told the gathering
that the members of the community are the eyes and ears of the
police. "It's important that you tell us what you see or know."

Shaidle said drug education is started in Grade 5. "We rely on the
message being repeated by parents every day," he said. "You need to
know your kids, talk to them and listen to them. It's all part of
combatting the problem."

Shaidle said that methamphetamine is a schedule three drug, and one
can receive up to three years in prison for possession of the drug.
For manufacturing it, one could go to jail for up to 10 years.

Methamphetamine, Shaidle said, can be produced in a couple of hours.
"But it takes five or six hours to prepare the paperwork and get a
search warrant to go in there," he explained.

Domestic assault in Hanover is up by almost 100 per cent over last
year, Shaidle said. Hanover police are also seeing other effects of
the drug, with additional break and enters, robberies and assaults.

Choices

David Roy of Choices, a drug counselling service for teenagers in
Grey and Bruce counties, had shocking news for the crowd.

"There is very little residential treatment for young people," he
said. "For those (programs) that do have residential treatment, there
are long waiting lists, anywhere from two weeks to four months wait.
In the meantime, we offer outpatient counselling."

However, he said, the staff is small, and the pace is hectic. The
staff of two try to get to local schools to speak to students when
they can. They cannot offer support to Hanover or Walkerton, he said,
because the counsellor who had been serving this area resigned and
has not been replaced.

"In 15 years of doing this job, I've never seen anything like this,"
he said. "(Methamphetamine) can change a person almost overnight.
It's tough to get away from, and it causes depression."

He added, there is no treatment program in Ontario that is specific
to methamphetamine.

Hanover Police Chief Tracy David said after the meeting that she was
pleased with the turnout but was disappointed to have to turn people
away. "I think it says volumes about the community and the concern
over meth," she said.

Mayor Bob White said he was stunned when he heard about the lack of
support in the area, and the short-staffed situation with Choices.

"I don't think we have an epidemic, but there is reason to be
concerned," he said. "This problem stretches across Canada."

White added, "To have that many people show up at a meeting shows
there is a concern. It doesn't end here."