RCMP: EMERGENCE AS 'DRUG OF CHOICE' NO SURPRISE

After a year of debate over whether crystal meth is a factor on the
local drug scene, RCMP seizure statistics show the drug hit Kelowna
hard last month.

If the drugs seized on raids and during arrests are any testament to
what is available on the street, crystal meth is now virtually as
popular as crack cocaine, the previous drug of choice for what police
call the "criminally transient."

"I don't know that it's surprised me," RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon said
in an interview following his monthly crime report to council on Monday.

The drug has taken significantly longer to get to Kelowna than many
communities on the coast where it has been a hot topic for several
years, in particular over the way it's infiltrated school populations
and elevated street crime.

"It was only a matter of time before it got here. It's in every other
community," McKinnon said.

The seizure statistics for last month show police took a kilogram of
meth and a kilogram of crack off the streets. "Up until now, 80 per
cent of what we were dealing with has always been cocaine or crack
cocaine and this is where we're starting to see that trend change,"
McKinnon said.

Local RCMP have only busted one meth lab in the last five years,
although they have seen remnants indicating the concoction has been
manufactured in town from time to time. But by and large, the drug is
coming from the outside into our city, where it is appealing to the
downtown street population as its cheap and easy to buy, he said.

Activists from the Living Positive Resource Centre raised the issue
over a year ago, in an effort to stem the tide before the drug took
hold. Their efforts eventually culminated in Kelowna's Crystal Meth Task Force.

The group has roughly 40 members on an e-mail list and a dozen active
volunteers, lead organizer Carmen Lenihan said yesterday.

Their latest project is to start a Meth Watch program in Kelowna,
similar to one started by a citizen's group in Victoria. Volunteers
distribute educational material to local stores, giving shopkeepers
options on how to handle the everyday medications it takes to produce
this drug.

As to whether the drug has hit the youth population the group was
formed to protect, McKinnon said there is no longer any doubt it is
in the schools. "It's been in the high schools here. In large
numbers, no, but it has been in the schools and there have been
individuals in the schools who have used it," he said.

He tempered his comments by saying it is still not likely as big a
factor as many people perceive.

Last February as the issue picked up speed in local media, Const.
Dean Childs told the Capital News crystal meth was not in the
mainstream school population, as did the school district itself.
Those students who were experimenting with the drug generally quickly
dropped out of system, he said.

McKinnon noted the Crystal Meth Task Force's efforts were not in vain.

"The Crystal Meth Task Force was all about education and awareness
and trying to tell people what the evils were of using crystal meth.
And I think it's had an effect--I certainly think it's been beneficial."