METH STRATEGY LACKING

Any effort to control the use of crystal meth is to be applauded. It is a
highly addictive drug that can leave chronic users with permanent
brain-damage and psychosis. The provincial government's recently announced
crystal meth strategy deserves only faint applause, however.

Susan Brice, the minister of state for Mental Health and Addiction
Services, admitted that the strategy involves no new spending. If no new
resources are being invested, it can't be that new.

Its 44 pages look like the kind of pamphlet we'd expect the ministry to
issue about any serious health issue. (The crystal meth strategy is shorter
than the 96-page report on preventing falls and injuries in the elderly or
the 61-page anxiety disorder strategy, but longer than the 27-page guide to
selecting child care.)

For the most part, aside from lapses into bureaucratic mumbo jumbo, the
crystal meth guide presents straightforward information and puts it in
perspective. The increase in crystal meth-related deaths - from two a year
in the province to a dozen - while small "requires attention." On the other
hand, the data shows B.C. "is not facing a massive increase in use despite
media stories to the contrary." (A cautionary note: in recent years, about
40 per cent of men arrested in Honolulu have tested positive for
methamphetamine, according to government sources.)

We're skeptical crystal meth's status as a media darling has a lot to do
with the fanfare surrounding the strategy announcement. We'd rather that
the impetus came from the report's observation that "heavy and long-term
use appears to be prevalent in certain high-risk populations."

What actions are proposed don't go far enough. Under the headline, "Build
Safer Communities," the strategy recommends working with the federal
government and pharmaceutical agencies to control access to the ingredients
used to make crystal meth. Why it doesn't propose provincial legislation to
require that isn't clear. But at least that's a start.

On the other hand, such recommendations as to support municipalities "in
planning and building healthy and safer communities" and the even vaguer
"build neighbourhood capacity to increase awareness and prevent criminal
activity" are all motherhood and lacking substance. Another criticism of
the strategy is that much of isn't really new. The word "continue" appears
throughout. "BC will continue to focus on health promotion, prevention and
reduction measures," for example.

An encouraging sign of that commitment is that the strategy will focus on
six high-risk groups, including women of child-bearing age, gay men, and
children living in homes where the drug is produced.

The strategy also promises training for counsellors, youth workers,
ambulance staff, police and other service providers. How it will achieve
that without any new money remains a mystery.

An appendix to the report, on the present state of knowledge about the
drug, is particularly interesting. Much of that information has already
been well publicized - such as the highly addictive nature of the drug, the
paranoid delusions often associated with chronic use and the explosive
dangers inherent in its manufacture.

The report also cautions "that many of the media reports are overly
dramatic in discussing these dangers." Obviously, we want to sound the
alarm about the drug. But if we exaggerate it, then those likely to use it
aren't likely to believe anything authorities have to say about it.

For that reason, we are compelled to recite this passage from deep in the
report: "A substantial proportion of methamphetamine users eventually
manage to stabilize their use to maximize benefits and minimize problems.
Users employ a range of strategies and rules designed to protect those
areas of their lives they individually regard as important. Women are more
likely to maintain control over their lives and use than men, but are also
more likely to hold on to the illusion of control long after they have lost it."