Canada: Provinces want more help battling crystal meth

The western provinces have been warning the rest of the country for months about the widespread use of crystal meth.

Police in British Columbia say the drug, made from ingredients readily available at drug stores and large supermarkets, has overtaken cocaine as the drug of choice for many addicts.

It can be made in small, simple tabletop labs, but police believe most of the drug is coming from what they call super-labs.

The Western premiers have committed millions of dollars to tackle the problem; mostly for public awareness and to get volunteer community groups going.

Ruth McLaughlin is one of those volunteers. She got to know the sidewalks and back alleys of Victoria a year ago, when her 14-year-old daughter became addicted to crystal meth and disappeared for days.

McLaughlin and her family were forced to learn about the drug that lured her daughter away from home. She and her husband launched a volunteer society to warn parents about the drug and lobby for more treatment facilities.

"We don't pretend for a moment we're going to eradicate this, it's still going to be around, but if we can stop it or slow it down ... and save some kids from going down this path, then we've done our job. But we can't save all of them," she said.

McLaughlin's daughter came home after she was viciously beaten on the street. She still occasionally uses the drug.

McLaughlin says more needs to be done to help the kids caught up with crystal meth.

Right now there are just 36 detox beds for minors suffering from all kinds of substance abuse in British Columbia, with no plans for more.

Alberta has 24 with another two dozen planned - and next year that province will be the first to allow parents to get court orders to forcibly lock up their addicted children for five days.

The federal government will more closely regulate the sale of bulk ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, the main chemical used to make crystal meth. Western provinces have moved ephedrine-containing cold remedies behind drug store counters.

B.C. Solicitor General John Les is looking to Ottawa for more help. Although penalties for meth traffickers have been put on a par with cocaine offences, Les says that's not enough.

"They are punished, but frankly, it's still a joke. The penalties they should be at least somewhere in the range of manslaughter, because we are talking about taking people's future away from them," he said.


Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/amphetablog.html
Pubdate: Thur, 10 November 2005
Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Canada)
Website: http://www.cbc.ca/
Copyright: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 2005