CRYSTAL METH CONCERNS RCMP

One of the world's deadliest and most addictive drugs is becoming a growing
concern for local RCMP detachments.

At a MD of Foothills council meeting last Thursday Sgt. Glen Haner of
Okotoks, Sgt. Glen Plustwa from High River and Sgt. Tyler Bray from Turner
Valley confirmed that crystal meth has infiltrated their districts.

Though no arrests have been made for meth production in the area, Bray said
the rise in the area's daytime break-and-enters are a good indication that
the drug is in the area.

"It's a cheap drug to buy, but they need a lot of it because of the
addiction and it takes money to buy this stuff," added Haner.

Haner said 47 per cent of first-time crystal meth users develop an addiction.

After a second use that number rockets to 92 per cent.

"It'd be nice to tell you that we live in Mr. Rogers' world, but we don't,"
said Haner. "It's not Sesame Street out there."

Crystal meth has long infected northern Alberta towns and cities, but has
only recently started filtering into the southern parts of the province.

In cities such as Spokane, WA and Coeur D'Alene, ID just south of the
Canada-U.S. border, crystal meth use has become an epidemic.

The attraction to the drug is its price and its readiness of availability.
Nearly every ingredient needed to 'cook' crystal meth - things such as
Drano, charcoal and lighter fluid - can be found in a normal home.

Given the volatility of the ingredients though, producing the drug can be
an extremely dangerous proposition.

"The people doing the cooking are essentially playing Russian roulette,"
said Plustwa.

"It's so easy for the process to go sideways and blow up. Many people have
burned their entire bodies making this stuff."

None of the officers suggested crystal meth use in the MD of Foothills is a
major problem at this point relative to what it has been seen in the north,
but that it is something they are keeping an eye on.

Bray said he suspects at least one clandestine lab is operating in his area.

In addition to his concerns over crystal meth, Bray targeted the Eden
Valley Reserve and the inflow of B.C. marijuana along Highway 22 as the
Turner Valley detachment's major concerns in 2003.

Up until 2002, Eden Valley made up 30 to 35 per cent of the detachment's
activity, but by 2004 that number rose to 50 per cent.

The Turner Valley detachment was ranked seventh in the province in terms of
busyness according to K-Division numbers for 2003. Despite the ranking
though, Bray isn't holding out hope that his detachment will see any
increase in members in the near future.

"We've got a full detachment by 1985 numbers," said Bray.

"We had eight members in the detachment in 1985 and we still have eight
members. The area the detachment covers has increased by 900 square km.,
but the number of members has stayed the same."

One of the largest concerns for all three commanding officers was the
overwhelming number of false alarms their detachments received in 2003.

Bray said his detachment alone was inundated with 1,207 false alarms last year.

"Since the time I got here the detachment has had a policy that we wouldn't
respond to a one-hit alarm," said Bray. "It hasn't been a problem so far,
but it's a risk we're taking.

"False alarms put the public and our members at risk because we are often
travelling at high speeds down the highway to respond to an alarm and it's
a waste of manpower."

All three asked council to consider passing a bylaw to help reduce the
number of false alarms they are forced to deal with. Council did not make
an immediate move to accept the officers' request.