Pubdate: Fri, 14 Oct 2005
Source: Chilliwack Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Chilliwack Times
Contact:  http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1357
Author: Mike Chouinard
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

800 ATTEND METH FORUM

Sheena Edwards tried crystal meth once. She told herself that was it but 
this was at a bad point in her life and she tried it again a few weeks 
later. Then she was hooked.

"From then on it's been the worst ride of my life," she told the audience 
at Tuesday night's community crystal meth forum. She was one of the 
featured speakers inside a packed Evergreen Hall.

Edwards, the 30-year-old member of the Cheam First Nation, was living in 
Vancouver at the time with her husband and child. When she began using the 
drug she found the rush of energy fun but it didn't take long for her to 
hit bottom.

"I ended up just being a tornado and ripping my family apart," she said.

What finally forced her to get help were some scary situations in which she 
found herself: being taken down a trail against her will on one occasion 
and on another finding some people armed with guns in her house while her 
daughter was home. She said she got mixed up with the drug largely due to 
problems in her family, both as victims and perpetrators of violence, and a 
lot of this can be traced to her mother's experiences as a residential 
school survivor.

"I see the patterns still in my community....These are my aunts and uncles, 
cousins and community members."

She made an emotional plea to the audience, estimated to be close to 800 
strong, that meth addicts need help and that they are worth saving. The 
audience responded with an standing ovation.

Edwards was not the only speaker at the forum but she provided the most 
direct evidence of the dangers of the drug. Among the others were 
addictions specialists, police officers with a background in narcotics and 
Solicitor General John Les.

The City of Chilliwack, which organized the event, was expecting up to 300 
people but set up 500 chairs. The turnout ended up exceeding their 
expectations, as it was a standing room only crowd with people lined up 
against the walls of the Evergreen.

"To suggest that we're overwhelmed by the response would be an 
understatement," Mayor Clint Hames said at the outset.

Les, the first to speak, outlined some experiences he had speaking with 
addicts in Victoria after becoming solicitor general.

"There's just a litany of horror stories but there's also good news," he said.

Part of the good news is the willingness of communities to accept there is 
a problem. Les also cited the $7 million in extra funding his government 
recently announced to combat crystal meth. One of the challenges though 
will be to push the courts and the federal government to crack down with 
stiffer sentences for meth manufacturers, Les said.

"These are merchants of misery and we need to get them out of our system."

Angela Marshall, a drug and alcohol counsellor, and Dr. Johan Wauterloot 
spoke about the challenges of dealing with methamphetamine addiction from a 
medical and treatment perspective. Marshall displayed the large number of 
easy-to-purchase ingredients used to make the drug as well as the methods 
addicts use to take it, specifically smoking, snorting, swallowing or 
occasionally injecting. Her message was straightforward-it's a downward 
spiral for users.

"It's just physics: what goes up must come down," she said.

Coming down for meth addicts can lead to anything from meth-induced 
schizophrenia, delusions and hallucinations, sores, serious dental 
problems, hyperthermia where one's organs can literally cook, a feeling of 
bugs on the skin, and many more.

The challenge in helping these people, according to Wauterloot, is addicts 
can be treated with a certain amount of therapy but there is no medical 
treatment, although certain pharmacotherapies are being tested.

After Wauterloot spoke, district principal for alternate education Jim 
Skinner recounted the experiences of three students who got involved with 
meth. One had been in foster homes, one had never come to terms with the 
death of a sibling, and one has become a prostitute after beginning a 
relationship with an older boyfriend who supplied the drug.

"That's what's going on in Chilliwack and it's going on as I speak," 
Skinner said. "My theory is that a lot of kids are overwhelmed, one way or 
another."

Near the end of the evening, RCMP members Corp. Scott Rintoul and Sgt. Mike 
McCarthy spoke about the issue from a law enforcement perspective, 
specifically about programs such as Meth Watch as well as some of the 
trends such as younger first-time users, the growing ease in buying meth, 
higher potency, organized crime's role in producing it and related crime 
committed by users such as auto and identity theft.

"This drug will turn a person who's not a criminal into a criminal," 
Rintoul said.

A question and answer period was cut short by some technical problems, but 
that was not likely the last word on the issue. Mayor Hames said the plan 
now is for some kind of follow-up by applying for some of the new money 
promised to communities by the province to fight the crystal meth problem. 
The other next step for the community will be for people from various 
groups and agencies to break into working groups to focus their efforts on 
prevention, ongoing education, treatment and community support, and 
enforcement of the law against manufacturers of the drug.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D