TASK FORCE COMING TO EDUCATE KIDS ABOUT METH

A group of representatives from community service and justice
organizations will meet next week to begin creating an action plan to
educate children and their parents in the Weyburn area about the drug
crystal meth.

The meeting is the second organized by Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Brenda
Bakken in recent weeks.

"I wanted to talk to them to see if they are interested in forming a
task force to address crystal meth in particular, and all drugs," she
said Tuesday.

"It was a great turnout. Now, we will try to put together an action
plan. My focus on this has always been about being proactive rather
than waiting for an epidemic," she said.

"We have an opportunity to tell kids and their parents about the
dangers of meth, and not to get involved in any way because their life
will be ruined," said Bakken. "It's a terrible thing."

Bakken said she learned from members of the group that crystal meth
can be found in Weyburn. She's been told by a member of Saskatchewan's
integrated drug squad the drug was showing up in Regina last year but
now its use is exploding in that city.

The drug is coming into Regina primarily from Calgary, but also along
the Yellowhead Highway from Edmonton, said Bakken. The Yellowhead has
been nicknamed the meth highway because of the drug's movement south,
she said.

"For me, and for the people at the initial meeting, there is a feeling
we need to educate the community about how destructive and addictive
the drug is," said Bakken.

Information from meth recovery groups say methamphetamine, known
commonly as "speed" or "crystal meth," is an addictive stimulant that
overstimulates certain systems in the brain. Crystal meth affects the
central nervous system much stronger. While its use dropped in the
1970s because of government control of chemicals, it has reappeared in
recent years.

Crystal meth can be smoked, snorted or injected.

The official RCMP website on the Internet says the use of meth by
individuals is not the only concern for the public. Although most
Canadian meth is made in huge labs in California, explosions and fires
at clandestine laboratory sites in Canada also costs public dollars,
said the RCMP.

The site said environmental degradation caused by the dumping of toxic
by-products resulting from meth production also places heavy financial
burdens on law enforcement agencies and all levels of government.

The site said five to six pounds of toxic waste are produced for every
pound of methamphetamine produced, with the average cost of laboratory
cleanup ranging from $1,500 to $30,000 in Canada. It said in 2000, a
clandestine lab-related fire destroyed a house in rural Ontario,
resulting in $450,000 in cleanup costs.