CITY SIGNS ON TO DELIVER MESSAGE ON METH

The continual focus Penticton is placing on crystal meth is working, say RCMP.

"Communities know a lot more about it and are looking for it," said
Staff-Sgt. Kurt Lozinski, from the South Okanagan RCMP after the city
unveiled the no2meth decals that had been placed on city and school
district vehicles, part of the second phase of its no2meth campaign
at Cherry Lane shopping centre Wednesday. "This is working and it's
positive. Everybody is getting involved."

According to Penticton RCMP's drug section, even the hard-core drug
users are staying away from meth because of its reputation as a
"dirty drug." As a result, however, Lozinski said dealers are
marketing more aggressively to teens and youth.

"I guess our fear is that crystal meth is still targeting toward the
younger generation and if we can get a hold of those guys to stop
listening to it, then we don't have to worry about the others," he said.

Newest on the market is packaging crystal meth to look like Pixie
Stix -- a flavoured sugar stick popular with youth. It is for this
reason that the Okanagan-Skaha school district has got on board with
the no2meth campaign and also applied the decals to their vehicles.

Solicitor General John Les, who was at Cherry Lane for Wednesday's
campaign kickoff, praised the city for its multi-agency approach to
creating awareness about the drug.

"Information is really really important, information in the hands of
parents, children, teachers and care givers," he said. "Everybody
needs to understand and be aware of the symptoms and what can evolve
out of using crystal meth."

Les said the detrimental impacts of the drug are what prompted the
province to commit $7 million to fund new initiatives to fight the
destructive drug in 2005.

"I don't apologize at all for taking a few million dollars to help
raise the awareness level making sure that people understand what a
risk this is and how we must deal with it," he said. "You only once
need to meet somebody -- a young person, who became addicted to
crystal meth and then became psychotic as a result and will never be
better again -- to convince you that something needs to be done to
keep this away from kids."

Penticton resident Ed Lekei knows only too well the effects crystal
meth can have on a family. Lekei's grandson Tyler was in the news
recently after committing suicide at his Delta home. The 23-year-old
suffered from schizophrenia, something his grandfather said was
diagnosed following the young man's abuse of both marijuana and
crystal meth during his teen years.

Lekei said he wanted to come to Wednesday's no2meth campaign kick off
to applaud both the city's and province's efforts to provide
awareness about the drug.

"Anything that can happen to make children, people, students aware
that, hey its going to kill you eventually," he said. "It doesn't
matter if you're male or female, rich or poor, dumb or smart,
nothing. It's got no boundaries, none. Everybody gets a turn."

Penticton is the second B.C. city to promote the program. Surrey
started the no2meth campaign earlier this month and already has so
much "positive feedback" that they are looking at funding their own
prevention programs, said Sander.

In Penticton, no2meth is the second half of an awareness campaign
that started last year with public information sessions at Cleland
Community Theatre.

The no2meth decals on city and school district trucks displays both
the province's website , where parents, teachers and youth can find
information about the drug, as well as alcohol and drug information
and a referral line for anyone who suspects someone using crystal
meth or for users themselves.

Solicitor General John Les (right) speaks with Penticton resident Ed
Lekei during Wednesday's launch of the city's no2meth campaign.