LET'S STOP IGNORING THE PROBLEM AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT

Something scary is on the horizon. Something much more chilling than
any Halloween spook show you might have experienced over the weekend -
because unlike Halloween gimmicks, this is real.

Our children of tomorrow are being presented with a new choice
drug one that's cheap and easy to find, and which dealers tell teens
is "no sweat" compared to other chemical drugs.

The prevalence of crystal meth in the Okanagan, and even within our
community of Lake Country, is creating a need for awareness.

To many teens, crystal meth might seem harmless. Unlike other hard
drugs like cocaine and heroine, you can ingest crystal meth by smoking
it, or even by taking it in the form of a pill.

The temptation must be great for young people, considering the
temporary high induced by this drug lasts longer and is more intense
than any other hard drug, including cocaine and heroin. With one dose
of crystal meth, the user is likely to experience the most
pleasurable, intense rush of his or her life.

The problem is, after just one dose, this drug will take away your
ability to ever feel that good again. Crystal meth gives you that high
by vastly increasing the release of dopamine (our natural "happy
makers"), which in turn reduces the amount of dopamine that can get to
the brain.

Director of the Haight-Ashbury Detoxification, Rehabilitation, and
Aftercare Clinic in San Francisco, Dr. Darryl Inaba, explains that by
exaggerating your natural pleasure-making abilities, and then
depleting that natural resource, you actually have destroyed some of
your natural ability to get pleasure out of life.

During a crystal meth workshop held in Kelowna for the public earlier
this month, Dr. Inaba described how people addicted to crystal meth
come to his clinic in San Francisco totally exhausted, paranoid and
miserable.

"In the end, people spend a lot of money to feel terrible," he
says.

This is just the beginning of what the dealers don't tell their
"clients" (or more appropriately, their prey). What they also fail to
mention is that one dose of this drug is more likely to get you hooked
than any other drug on the street, including cocaine.

Addiction counsellors say that the withdrawal symptoms of meth,
especially the depression and physical agony, are worse than those of
heroin or cocaine, making it one of the hardest drugs to treat. The
relapse rate of crystal meth is 92 percent - a higher rate than cocaine.

Sound scary yet? It is. And it's here, in the Okanagan, and in Lake
Country. It's distributed by the Hells Angels, and sold to your son's
and daughter's friends, and possibly to your own kids.

Even if you haven't heard of it being in Lake Country before, if you
have kids in high school, or even in grade 6 or 7, it's almost
guaranteed they know it's here.

A George Elliot Secondary counsellor, who wishes to remain unnamed,
says that the drug is readily available throughout the Okanagan, and
is lately becoming a social issue. However, this counsellor notes that
for whatever reason, people, even parents, don't think they're
affected by it.

The last 4-pillars public meeting held in Lake Country, which was
intended to be an informational meeting about drugs in the community,
had an embarrassingly small turnout, with only a handful of teachers
and counsellors showing up, and virtually no parents.

George Elliot Principal, Mike Proch, says that the administrative
faculty are "not naive" about the substances that are out there and
that are available to students throughout the Okanagan.

He states that George Elliot has never suspended anyone for crystal
meth, nor have they found the drug on the school grounds. But he
recognizes that crystal meth is designed and fabricated specifically
for this age group, and notes that the students at George Elliot are
aware of crystal meth.

"The kids are aware of it, which suggests it probably has been
around," he says.

His biggest indication of their knowledge of this drug occurred when
Heather Charleton stood in front of the 800+ students to talk about
her experiences with drugs and drinking and driving. The attentiveness
of the entire student body during Heather Charleton's depiction of how
her life was changed by crystal meth suggested to Proch that George
Elliot students don't take this drug lightly.

"You could've heard a pindrop," Proch says when he describes the hush
that came over the gymnasium.

Proch was right - during Heather's entire talk about drugs, drinking
and driving and bad choices, it was never as silent in that gym as
when she mentioned briefly that her world crumbled after she got
involved in meth.

During question period at the end, one of the students brought up the
subject again, wishing to know exactly what changed in her life as a
result of crystal meth.

Heather's answer was solemn. "I dropped down to 105 lb., I pushed away
everyone who meant anything to me, I was alone and I hated myself,"
she said.

She added that she still suffers from the long-term effects of memory
loss and the inability to retain new memories, even though she's now
been clean for almost ten years.

"My friends always say, 'remember when this happened?' But I don't
remember, I never will remember."

She went on to say that in the last 15 years, the availability and
popularity of crystal meth has soared. Hells Angels love crystal meth,
because it's cheap and easy to make, and so easy to promote.

In fact, it's so easy to make that police estimate an investment of
$150 can yield up to $10,000 worth.

A CBC study on crystal meth also found that the highest numbers of
crystal meth users are in rural and small-town areas throughout North
America. Researchers and addiction experts suggest that the popularity
of the drug in small towns is partly because it's considered cool by
young people who do not have big-city connections to other street drugs.

Let's make sure our community doesn't become another part of this
statistic - let's stop ignoring this problem and stare it in the face.
Instead of being ashamed about discovering a problem in our community,
shouldn't we recognize it and be glad we found it in time to do
something about it?

As a parent, you can do something. Talk to your kids. And more
importantly, really listen to your kids, even to what they're not saying.

Dr. Inaba gives this piece of advise for parents to watch out for in
their child: "Look for a change in behaviour. Sometimes it can be a
change in friends, but anything can be an indicator. Watch for
appetite loss, weight loss, change in health, not sleeping at night -
and when you approach your child, take a supportive role. Let them
know they can come forward."