SMALL TOWN FACING 'BIG CITY' PROBLEM

Just below the surface, in the shadow of a community's conscience, sits a
dirty truth.

It's dirty because it harms the future. It's dirty because it targets youth.

It's dirty because it comes from garbage cans, made in alleyways and mouldy
basements by self-taught chemists using poisons found in hardware stores.
Or it's smuggled across the border on vessels fueled by exploitation and blood.

It's family members are known on the street by a dozen different names -
crystal meth, ice, crank, glass, zip, chalk, meth death, X, ecstasy,
special K, easy lay, Adam - the names as numerous as the addictions. And
according to youth advocates, parents, educators and police, it's on the
streets and in the homes of Ladysmith.

It used to be that, as a youth, one would sneak a bottle from a parent's
liquor cabinet, buy an eighth of weed and go to a house party. Maybe drink
some mushroom tea. Maybe drop a hit or two of acid. Maybe snort a rail.

Then, 10 years ago, jude ( a street term for heroin) reared its ugly head
and kids started dying. Two local high school students OD'd by smoking
smack in their basement. Choking on their own vomit. The town remembers.
It's pain not easily erased, nor easily revisited. And talking about it
only brings back the bitter heartache.

Unfortunately, a blind eye turned from fear creates a darkness where
similar things can happen.

Tanya Henn is tired of the darkness. She wants to flip a switch and expose
the dirty little secret. And maybe in the process, the youth of Ladysmith
won't have to suffer the pain brought on by drugs. Maybe she'll help save
her daughter.

According to Henn, mother of a 16-year-old Ladysmith girl who has been
immersed in the culture, a different type of party is the focus of youth
these days. This time it isn't heroin, marijuana, or alcohol that are the
drugs of choice.

These gatherings involve synthetic drugs, made purely from chemicals, and
cause the party-goers to stay high for hours and hours, sometimes even
days. Methamphetamine (crystal meth), methylenedioxymethamphetamine
(ecstasy), gamma hydroxybutyrate (GBH) - these are the chemicals being
snorted, smoked, ingested, injected and anally administered to keep the
parties going. And sometimes as many as 50 youth are taking part in what
are being dubbed 'e-parties'.

"These parents need to be aware that it's not just in Vancouver and
Victoria that this is happening," Henn said. "It's here, in our town. And
everyone would be surprised to find out just what types of kids are involved."

"It's hell. I've known these kids since they were little and I've seen
relationships ruined. Even to make my own son realize that it was the
drugs, not his sister, that'd been treating him so badly over the last
year. It's hard."

Police and community workers are aware that synthetic drugs have come to
the area, but are unsure just how far the problem has spread.

"Yes, we have cocaine, ecstasy, crystal meth and yes, there are youth
using," Kim Chadwick, a youth, alcohol and drug worker, said. "But it's
hard to gauge how big a problem it is. I am seeing youth who are
experiencing problems."

A bust just before Christmas on Malone Road saw local RCMP seize a
considerable amount of cocaine, ecstasy and crystal meth from a residence
and arrest two men. Police focused on that particular house because of its
proximity to the local high school, right across the street.

According Naomi McNab a school counsellor at Ladysmith Secondary School,
the problem amongst students is substantial.

"I'd say an eighth could have a problem," McNab said. "There are concerns
with groups that are using on a regular basis."

RCMP Const. Scott Rintoul, an expert on synthetic drugs, says there are no
specific groups or class types more at risk than others - these drugs know
no boundaries and one in every five youth are at risk to be affected.

Rintoul was in Ladysmith Wednesday giving a presentation to high school
students, as well as an evening seminar for parents and interested members
of the community.

E-parties are a marker of the de-stigmatization of synthetic drugs, Rintoul
said. The drugs are marketed with youth in mind by packaging the stimulants
in tablets with happy faces, dolphins, superman symbols or any number of
non-intimidating images.

Rintoul said he thinks it is too late to save the kids in high school now
but wants to see a focus on prevention for the younger kids.

"There's no deterrents, no consequences," Rintoul said. "If we had some it
would make people think twice."

"But it's treatment and prevention that we need to focus on, to allocate
our resources to. Why don't we have treatment on demand? Why, in Vancouver,
does it take six to nine months for a 16-year-old kid who comes forward and
says 'I need help' to get into a treatment program?"

The best way to help kids make it past peer pressure and to let them know
the dangers of drug use is to inform parents and lead by example, Rintoul said.

"Parents are the number one prevention program for children," he said.
"What kind of message are we sending our kids with a safe injection site?
We're normalizing drug use."

Henn said she hopes other parents will pay more attention and listen to
their children.

"I had to send my daughter away and now she's been clean for six months.
But why do parents have to send their kids away? I want the community as a
whole to help these kids."