KIDS FALLING PREY TO METH: COUNSELLORS

Prolonged Use 'Eats Their Brain Away'

Crystal meth addiction has put huge numbers of youths on to the streets and
into rehab, say city counsellors.

Youth Emergency Shelter Society supervisor Chrysta Angus said the number of
meth users needing a roof over their head has doubled in the last two years
- - and now at least half the kids staying there are current or former meth
users.

And Marilyn Mitchell, the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission's
manager of youth services, said a similar pattern is emerging in AADAC's
intensive drug rehab programs, where about 60% of the kids are meth addicts.

"Meth is one of the main reasons youth are coming to the shelter," said
Angus. "Probably half of our kids have used it, or it has contributed at
some point to issues with their family.

"It is definitely the drug of choice right now - over and above alcohol and
even marijuana use."

Alberta Children's Services Minister Iris Evans said it's "very disturbing"
so many youth are becoming addicted to meth and ending up in city shelters
or rehab programs. Anecdotal reports from her own department suggest the
drug is having a dramatic and detrimental effect on relationships between
children and their families, she said.

"The workers tell us at management level that there are more indications of
crystal meth in apprehensions today," said Evans.

Mitchell said meth's popularity among young people has skyrocketed because
it's cheap and accessible. She said 173 youths received intensive
in-patient treatment for addiction in 2002-03, compared with just 103 in
2001-02. And the percentage of meth addicts taking part also increased to
60% from about 20% to 30% three years ago, based on anecdotal reports.

The city's youth emergency shelter housed 623 kids in 2001-02, a figure
that rose to 770 in 2002-03. But Angus said the most disturbing part of the
trend has been the effect it has had on long-term meth users.

"The kids that started using crystal meth two years ago, when they were 16,
are 18 now," she said. "Prolonged meth use kind of eats their brain away.
They can't function. They are very sick and they are doing more meth.
That's the scariest thing."

Police have linked a spike in meth use in Edmonton to increases in violent
crime, robberies, property theft and even a spate of recent attacks on cops.

"Very quickly, we have seen a tremendous increase in meth use," said
Edmonton Police Service deputy chief Mike Bradshaw. "The entire meth
problem is certainly something that we've all become aware of."