Pubdate: Fri, 31 May 2002
Source: Oliver Chronicle (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 Oliver Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.oliverchronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/875
Author: Lisa Joy

DRUG ABUSE HIGH IN SOUTH OKANAGAN

Meeting South Okanagan teenagers on their turf-the streets-it becomes clear 
that if there were an exam for illicit drug terminology, costs and effects, 
they would get an A+.

The teens know what's available, for how much and the type of high it 
gives. The drug of choice is 'BC Bud' marijuana for $30 - $35 a gram and 
$150 - $220 an ounce. You can choose Hawaiian, white rhino, skunk, 
blueberry, California orange or banana. If you prefer ecstasy, for $25 a 
pill, there are green, red or ones with cartoon pictures. Then there's GHB, 
a mellow ecstasy for $50 a baby jar. Crack cocaine is widely available and 
sells for $8 - $10 a rail and if you want to freebase it, just add baking 
soda. Hash is hard to find but the oil is easy to get. Mushrooms cost $10 a 
gram and acid is a bargain at only $5 a hit. Methamphetamine, which the 
teens say is a stronger form of speed, costs $15-$18 a point.

And there's the prescription drugs sold on the streets like Tylenol 3s for 
$2-$2.50 a pill and Dexatrin for $2-2.50 a pill.

"There's lots of candy on the table here," said Mike Bell, a youth street 
worker for South Okanagan Integrated Community Services Society, who spends 
much of his time on the streets reaching out to the youth.

According to a report prepared by Prevention Source BC, by coordinated law 
enforcement, the province and ministry of the Attorney General, BC has the 
highest lifetime prevalence for illicit drug use of all the provinces in 
Canada.

The information is based on a 1994 Canadian Alcohol and Drug Survey. The 
survey is done every four years but the results of the 1998 study haven't 
been released yet..

But Dr. Colin Mangham, director of Prevention Source BC in a telephone 
interview from Vancouver on Tuesday said, "The federal government is slow 
getting the information out but the same kind of things (from the 1994 
report) hold true."

Dr. Mangham spoke recently to both the Senate Committee and House Committee 
in Ottawa on illegal drug use.

"Marijuana use in BC is the highest in the country," said Dr. Mangham. 
"There are two contributing factors. The perceived social acceptance of 
using marijuana and its availability."

Dr. Mangham added that BC has many grow operations and a justice system 
that is too lax. "The problem is we have mild judicial sentencing compared 
to other provinces."

He said that the Okanagan, the Kootenays, Lower Mainland and Vancouver 
Island are notorious for having many grow operations.

Studies show that marijuana use among adolescents has increased at an 
alrarming rate by almost 50 per cent since 1992.

"Two factors play in that," explained Dr. Mangham. "We have not had much 
public education on marijuana use in the last 10 years. The last federal 
campaign was in 1989. At the same time there is a large increase in 
medicinal use of marijuana and a move to legalize it. All of this 
contributes to the perceived social acceptance."

But marijuana is anything but harmless says Dr. Mangham.

"Marijuana is an addictive drug and there is a withdrawal syndrome with it. 
It's extremely strong today and produces an impact on the body. It affects 
memory, concentration, motivation and decreases the IQ. Many of its effects 
on part of the brain are the same as attention deficit disorder."

Dr. Mangham says other drugs readily available in BC include heroin and 
crack cocaine.

Drug abuse seems to have hit this area of the province particularly hard. 
"It's really sad to see that there's lots of drug use among young people," 
said Dr. John Dimma, who has worked the front lines as a physician in 
Oliver for over 30 years and has firsthand knowledge of the health problems 
in this area.

Dr. Alan Ruddiman says reasons for its prevalence are many. "It has to do 
with the fact that there is a fairly large young population in town that is 
marginalized. There are single parent families, young parents with 
children, a very large welfare population and a huge transient population 
in the summer time with fruit pickers. And we are a border community and 
history shows that communities that straddle the US border have higher 
incidences in drug trafficking. In the summer time there's an expensive 
crowd from Vancouver who participate in recreational drug use. The 
combination of those factors produce a year round drug problem."

A 16-year-old attractive girl hanging out on the lawn at Oliver's town hall 
said although she's never tried drugs-yet-it's around if she wants it. 
"Just being in town you learn about the drugs and the people doing it. It's 
the main topic of conversation and it's hard to avoid. You learn it and you 
know it."

A 17-year-old girl with her said, "You can get meth if you know the right 
people. They bring it in from Osoyoos or Penticton. You learn to know who 
sells what and how good it is."

A blond 24-year-old male, while rolling a joint and then smoking it on the 
main street said, "I started selling drugs here when I was 13. It was my 
first job until I was 16."

Even though these teens were aware of the dangers of drugs when taking 
them, many couldn't resist.

At a different location a blond 18-year-old admitted that she has tried 
mushrooms, pot, and even acid=8Ajust because. "I thought I'd never try a 
hit but I said 'give me a hit' and then thought 'it's not so bad.'"

Another 18-year-old said, "I only did ecstasy once and on the very day that 
I did it people were telling me that it was dangerous. I'm never going to 
do it again. It's stupid and I felt sorry for myself after. Anything can 
happen to you. It's scary. If you're with people that you don't trust they 
could do anything to you. Anything can happen and that's the scary part."

A 19-year-old girl commented, "More people here do drugs than any other 
place I've lived. I've lived in Vancouver, Kelowna and Penticton."

One 18-year-old says she sees drug abuse worsening. "There's lots of soft 
drugs, pot and crystal meth, lots of crack cocaine and heroin. Ecstasy is 
really bad here. There are 13 and 14-year-olds doing it. It's disturbing. 
When I was 13 I was worried about armpit hair not drugs."

But Sgt. Bob Reuter Of the Oliver RCMP downplayed the drug problem saying, 
"I wouldn't say it's any worse here."

"I haven't heard anything here about ecstasy," added Sgt. Reuter. "But it's 
fairly accessible to get in most places so there's no reason to think that 
it hasn't been in use at some point here."

Sgt. Ted Cronmiller from the Osoyoos RCMP detachment said, "Certainly 
there's drugs in Osoyoos. I wouldn't deny that but to say it's epidemic, I 
wouldn't go there. I came from the Coast and I saw a lot more there. Hard 
drugs we don't see very often. We hear about crystal meth, crack cocaine 
and some heroin."

"There's lots of marijuana grow operations here," added Sgt. Cronmiller. 
"That a big problem to us."

Osoyoos detachment has had several major seizures of marijuana grow ops in 
the past year. The biggest one was last Easter with about 4,000 plants 
seized from a packinghouse. It was a state-of-the art operation run by 
organized crime from Vancouver.

Sgt. Reuter said some abusers resort to crime to support their habit.

"Cocaine is certainly more expensive so if a person doesn't have the money 
they resort to criminal activities. It's a big part of the crime problems 
we have. It's a catch 22."

He added that alcohol also contributes to criminal activity. "From what 
we've seen we deal with more alcohol related problems with youth than drug 
related."

Youth aren't the only drug abusers in the South Okanagan.

Dr. Dimma said, "It's not just among the teenagers but among the parents as 
well."

Sgt. Reuter agreed saying, "There is a group of hard-core adult drug 
abusers here. About 20-30 adults using hard drugs like heroin and cocaine."

This was echoed by one of the 18-year-old girls who said, "I've lived here 
for four years and have seen a lot of drugs but it's not just the young 
people. There's an older crowd in their early 20s heavy into drugs here."

Bell said teenagers don't like to admit they take harder drugs. "Teenagers 
may brag about drinking or doing soft drugs but with crack cocaine it's 
pretty hush hush. It's still considered dirty."

Bell said there are warning signs of a teen in trouble that he watches. "I 
keep an eye out for kids going over the deep end and hook them up with 
counsellors. If they're throwing up at the (convenience store) on a 
Wednesday afternoon there's a problem. If they're taking drugs or alcohol 
during school, there's a problem."

He added, "I hang out with them and try to make sure that they are making 
good judgment calls and get on their case. Sometimes teenagers lack good 
judgment. The same kid who gets an A on calculus may get drunk and drive 
his car fast."

No doubt drugs on Osoyoos and Oliver streets are easy to get. As easy as 
going to the corner candy store.

One of the 18-year-olds said, "You can ask for anything and I could 
probably get it for you."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens