Pubdate: Fri, 03 Feb 2006 Source: Prince George Citizen (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 Prince George Citizen Contact: http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/350 Author: Frank Peebles, Citizen staff Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?241 (Methamphetamine - Canada) CRYSTAL METH PROBLEM COSTLY Crystal meth is hitting communities hard and it could get a lot worse, B.C.'s Solicitor General John Les told a packed forum at UNBC Thursday night. The province's top cop, Les explained that "crystal meth is cheap, available easily in any community across the province, easy to use, but the human cost is enormous. It will cost us dearly for decades to come if we don't take steps now. It is a nasty, mean, dirty and vicious drug. There is no question all drugs can be described that way, but crystal meth is a little more evil." Prof. Terry Waterhouse of the University College of the Fraser Valley's criminology department told the audience about the results of some B.C. studies done on the subject of crystal meth. He noted that the people caught in meth labs had an average criminal history of 14 years and an average count of 13 prior convictions for past crimes. Another study polled 1,000 students in three B.C. schools and revealed that eight per cent had tried crystal meth. "What was alarming to us," said Waterhouse, "was when we asked how many students used meth once per month or more, the result was seven per cent. There is no change. It was the same group. Crystal meth users are frequent users." With photos, graphs, charts and personal anecdotes, addictions counsellor Angela Marshall of the Fraser House rehabilitation centre in the Lower Mainland brought a similar but more personal message. "It is the most horrible thing I've ever worked with...it takes everything good and great about people and leeches it out of them," she said. Marshall described how meth could be ingested in just about any way a drug can be taken - smoking, injecting, eating, drinking, snorting - and the ingredients are simple, cheap, legal household or drugstore items. There is nothing common about the effects, though, she said. The power of the high, the crash and the cravings produce shocking aggression and psychological breakdowns, and it also eats the body in ugly and severe ways. In addition to MLAs John Rustad and Shirley Bond, city councillors, school trustees, teachers, police officers, health-care workers and social workers in attendance, there were also numerous people who spoke of addiction from first-hand experience. "It took me 30 years to get to two years (clean)," said one former meth user and prostitute. "They snuck me in for an extra stay (at the rehabilitation centre). You're only supposed to be there five days, but they kept me for 12. Three months is not enough for someone out there for 30 years." Another former addict said, "I did it on my own, without the help of the beds that weren't there. I even slept in front of detox places and they wouldn't let me in. You're lucky I made it. Being in jail was better than what was in my head." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom