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