METH IS AFFORDABLE, POTENT AND ACCESSIBLE FOR YOUTH

Crystal methamphetamine first emerged on the North American drug scene
in the late 1980s. It appeared in Hawaii, looked like translucent
crystal shards and had a cool moniker - Ice.

"We are in an era of synthetic drugs," says RCMP Cpl. Scott Rintoul of
the drug-awareness service. "The chemicals that are used to produce it
are neurotoxic, they're carcinogenic . . . You're not going to drink
iodine, you're not going to eat red phosphorus, drink acid or brake
cleaners, ether - that's what's in methamphetamine."

Crystal meth is "cooked" from a variety of household products and
chemicals found in labs. The drug targets the brain's reward centre,
mimicking the pleasure chemical dopamine, and tricks the brain's cells
into releasing massive amounts of dopamine. The drug also disrupts the
production of serotonin, the brain chemical responsible for sleep,
cravings, mood and aggression.

"It's extremely accessible," says Patrick MacDonald, supervisor of
youth and family programs at the Phoenix Centre. "It's very affordable
and it's a very long, intense high. All of those things make it
extremely attractive."

Prolonged use of the drug can result in kidney, heart and lung
disorders, depression, hallucination, and paranoia.

The most common methods of use are smoking, snorting and injecting. In
Kamloops, the method of choice is snorting.

The high can last between two and eight hours - six to eight times
longer than cocaine.

"It's real, it's not going away," says Bob Hughes, a youth addictions
counsellor at the Phoenix Centre.

Hughes hears the same doom and gloom he heard 10 years ago with the
rise of crack cocaine - that "this is an epidemic and our cities are
going to be destroyed by it - crack didn't go away, and meth won't go
away."

He says it's time to debunk the myth.

The drug is very addictive, and it's not unusual for a client to
become addicted quickly.

"It doesn't mean the moment you try methamphetamine you're hooked . .
. But the reality is if you keep trying it, if you keep experimenting
with it, it's likely you will get dependent on it."

In April, the B.C. Coroners Service released a report on the 31
methamphetamine-related deaths in B.C. between 2000 and 2004.

The number jumped to 13 deaths in 2003 from two in 2000. By
comparison, in 1998 there were 401 heroin-related deaths in Vancouver
alone. The highest number of meth deaths occurred in the 19 to 21 age
group.

"You talk to kids in school and they'll tell you that they can go and
buy a bag of pot or buy meth faster than they can buy cigarettes or a
case of beer," Hughes says.

Meth is a young person's drug for several reasons: It's cheaper than
cocaine, lasts longer and is easy to market to kids because it doesn't
yet carry the same negative, "dirty" connotations of crack cocaine.

Tolerance to the drug builds quickly. Clients use more and more in an
attempt to repeat the initial high, and often turn to other drugs to
get the job done.

Once communities accept that meth is here to stay, Hughes says, they
can look at managing the drug.

One of those ways is by controlling the drug's base - pulling
ephedrine- and pseudo-ephedrine-based products, cough syrups and
decongestants, off of store shelves.

But, Rintoul says, 90 per cent of meth in B.C. is produced in
"superlabs" capable of producing 10 pounds of the drug in 24 hours.
The labs are run by organized crime, who purchase the chemicals
through a variety of methods.

He projects RCMP will bust more than 40 meth labs this year in B.C.