Pubdate: Wed, 25 Apr 2007
Source: Kelowna Capital News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007, West Partners Publishing Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.kelownacapnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1294
Author: Jennifer Smith, Staff reporter

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."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Elaine