SPREAD OF METH NO SURPRISE: RCMP

THE RCMP officer who runs the province's drug awareness section is
surprised a crystal meth lab has been found in Terrace.

"We knew it was coming to Vancouver based on what was happening in Europe
and in the States. Only recently it has been hitting Vancouver to any great
degree but to have it all of a sudden jump to Terrace, we didn't think it
would happen so quickly," said Staff Sergeant Chuck Doucette.

In town to speak to students and to a public meeting after a crystal meth
lab was found on Lazelle Ave. March 2, Doucette said officers began
tracking crystal meth after it began to gain in popularity as a party drug
at raves.

Raves feature ecstasy, another chemical combination, which does produce a
high but it's a high which stifles sexual potency, said Doucette.

Drug makers then began adding meth to ecstasy because it enables users to
perform sexually, he added.

"We found this to be popular in the gay communities," said Doucette.

Meth, especially when smoked, brings on an almost immediate high that can
last four to 12 hours compared to crack cocaine whose effect can last only
15 to 20 minutes, he said.

Meth's cost of perhaps $15 for a hit then makes it a popular drug of
choice, Doucette continued.

Because meth can be smoked as opposed to using intravenous drugs such as
heroin, it is more socially acceptable as people don't use needles and so
don't consider themselves as junkies, he noted.

The ultimate key to stifling meth use is prevention through education
programs outlining the effects of drug use on health and with programs such
as DARE which build on making drug use socially unacceptable, said Doucette.

He said governments let slide prevention programs in the 1990s and have
only recently begun to put more money into prevention.

"When I started [in drug awareness] there were just two of us. Now there
are 20 and we now have 300 DARE [police] officers trained in the province
and it is growing," said Doucette.

A police officer for 32 years, Doucette spent many years in drug
enforcement, switching to the prevention side five years ago.

Aside from his professional experience with narcotics, the drug industry
has also come close to home. That occurred when a marijuana grow up was
discovered on the street where he lives.