Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jan 2016
Source: Journal-Pioneer, The (CN PI)
Copyright: 2016 Journal-Pioneer
Contact:  http://www.journalpioneer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2789
Author: Nancy MacPhee
Page: A3

NEED FOR SPEED

Illegal Drug Overtakes Prescription Narcotics As Drug of Choice in 
Prince County

Dr. Don Ling calls it worrisome, a drug that quickly takes users into its grip.

Speed. Crank. Ice. Methamphetamine.

It's become the drug of choice of Prince County addicts.

"As a stimulant, it accelerates everything. It will speed up your 
heart and give you a rush," said Ling. "It is a tough drug. It is so 
prevalent, so available. It is fairly cheap and it is a grabber, 
there is no doubt about that."

Ling, director of the province's methadone program, has worked in 
addictions for 14 years and oversees a once-weekly methadone clinic 
at Prince County Hospital.

More and more clients of that clinic are coming in addicted to speed.

"They use it to get that accelerated feeling. It is kind of peddled 
and sold as giving them more energy," said Ling.

"It has been prevalent in Summerside for a few years now. It seems to 
have hit earlier and harder in Summerside than even in Charlottetown. 
That is where I first became aware of it."

Speed is a man-made illegal addictive stimulant drug, produced purely 
to get high.

"It is kind of like a little junior cocaine," said Ling. "If you 
overuse it or use it excessively, you drive your heart pretty hard."

It's cheap, at $ 4 to $ 5 a pill.

In Summerside, where Ling has about 175 patients, seeing 20 to 25 
each week, speed shows up in the tests of between 10 and 20 per cent 
of clients.

Cannabis is still the drug most prevalent drug - showing up in the 
test results of most people visiting the Summerside clinic - followed 
by opioids, prescription drugs that, when used as prescribed, are 
used to treat various medical conditions.

Opioid addiction is still a big issue but on the decline, said Link, 
largely due to the success of the province's methadone program.

The "dramatic" increase in the prevalence of speed is troubling, said 
Leslie Warren, manager of Addictions Services East.

"A lot of it is so new to us, too.

We are learning about it. Once we get our feet under us, it is about 
providing more education, especially to our youth," said Warren. 
There are no numbers regarding those in active treatment for speed addiction.

"When we look at methamphetamine, we think, what else is coming to 
our province? It just puts up those red flags of something new," said Warren.

"What is it? What are they using? I don't know if they know what they 
are actually taking. Where is it coming from? Is it coming from off 
Island? What is it cut with? There are concerns."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom