DRUG CRIMES ON THE RISE IN MEDICINE HAT

Drug-related crimes, particularly those involving marijuana, have
become a burden on police forces across the country as the
drug-related crime rate hit a 20-year high in 2002 according to
Statistics Canada.

Local police have witnessed a similar increase in drug-related crimes
and don't see the trend easing up any time soon.

"The increase in armed robberies in Medicine Hat is just about
exclusively 100 per cent attributed to drugs," said Cst. Dellrae
Sharpe. "Crack is still No. 1 in the Hat."

Seventy-five per cent of drug-related incidents in Canada in 2002
involved pot, and about 72 per cent of those were possession offences,
StatsCan reported. Sharpe explained since marijuana isn't as
physically addictive as other harder drugs, such as crack cocaine, it
doesn't attribute to the increase in drug-related offences in the Hat
like in places like British Columbia.

"The police-reported drug crime rate has risen an estimated 42 per
cent since the early 1990s and now stands at a 20-year high," the
agency said.

Police reported almost 93,000 incidents related to the Controlled
Drugs and Substances Act in 2002. Of these, about two-thirds were for
possession, 22 per cent were for trafficking, and the remainder were
for offences involving importation and production.

"Medicine Hat is no different than any other Canadian city," said
Sharpe. "Drug use has definitely increased here. We definitely have
seen an increase in drug-related crime."

According to Sharpe, the rise has caused the force to increase the
number of officers assigned to the drug unit and enhance drug
enforcement as one of its goals for 2004.

Sharpe said it is a tough thing to battle with the increase in drugs
nation-wide both in availability and strength.

"We've got to keep plugging along," she said. "Looking at the future .
. . education is definitely a key."

She said the police service is committed to getting the message to
youth about the dangers of drug use.

Among provinces in 2002, the rate of drug-related incidents per
100,000 population was highest in British Columbia, followed by
Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, the agency said.

In related news, this morning two men charged with possession and
trafficking of over 250 pounds of marijuana, with an estimated street
value over $800,000, in a Jan. 19 incident will be in Medicine Hat
Provincial Court.

With files from Canadian Press