Pubdate: Fri, 07 Nov 2003
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2003, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.fyiedmonton.com/htdocs/edmsun.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135
Author: Doug Beazley

KIDS CAUGHT IN CRYSTAL METH CAULDRON

She Was A Meth Addict. Up Until A Few Months Ago, That Was The Worst Of Her 
Problems.

This happened right here in Edmonton. The woman, a 29-year-old mother of 
two, described herself as an occasional speeder when she showed up on the 
doorstep of the Lurana women's shelter with severe head wounds, a couple of 
broken ribs and a bad case of the shaking terrors.

"Her common-law was a meth addict. He called her up one day, all paranoid 
and throwing all these crazy accusations at her," said Karen Long, an 
employee of the City of Edmonton's Community Services office and a member 
of the Edmonton police spousal violence intervention team. She and her 
partner, Det. Jeff Kerr, were delivering a cautionary lecture yesterday to 
a room full of social workers.

"He beat her for seven hours, choked her, threatened her with a gun. She 
spent six weeks in the shelter. One day a dozen roses showed up. She left 
that night, taking the kids with her. We have no idea where they are now."

It wasn't love that got the couple from hell back together - it was speed. 
Crystal methamphetamine will probably end up killing them both, just as it 
will drastically lengthen the odds on her kids living into their teens.

The message Kerr and Long brought to the Family Violence 2003 conference 
yesterday was that Edmonton's white-hot meth market is creating a growing 
army of collateral victims - children, mostly.

They're getting beaten and neglected, they're having their lungs scorched 
by toxic fumes and their brains turned to mush by the meth residue that 
collects on their clothes, the carpets, the cutlery - everything.

"Take a look at this," said Kerr, pointing to a slide projection of a 
crayon drawing a four-year-old Edmonton boy had made of daddy's kitchen 
lab. He had it all down in detail, from the beaker on the stovetop to the 
tubing.

"When we go into places where meth is being cooked, we're wearing full 
contamination suits and breathing gear. And we're finding little kids, 
living in all this," he said. "We've got to treat these kids like they're 
contaminated, because they are, and everything they're wearing.

"We're seeing kids coming into hospital with chemical burns on their knees, 
elbows and hands, from crawling around on carpets saturated with these 
chemicals."

Meth's different from most drugs - it's almost as dangerous to make as it 
is to take. There are two methods of manufacture - anhydrous ammonia and 
red phosphorus - and they both involve a witch's brew of chemicals that are 
either toxic, volatile, inflammable, caustic, or all of the above.

Childhood exposure to this stuff causes lifetime learning disabilities and 
behavioural disorders - the sort of background you find overrepresented in 
our nation's prisons.

How addictive is it? Heavy meth use causes the renal system to fail; the 
body can't excrete the poison fast enough, so it starts to collect in 
nodules under the skin.

Hardcore speeders have been known to cut these nodules open to get at the 
drugs buried in their flesh.

If mommy's mining her own body to get a free hit, how much attention is she 
paying to her kids? If she's addicted to a drug that's turning her mind to 
jelly, how well will she cope when the baby's screaming?

"Meth doesn't make domestic violence. But it exaggerates the tendencies 
that are already there," said Long. "Paranoia. Poor anger control."

"With meth addicts, we see a much higher level of violence," said Kerr. 
"The beatings get worse, and the abuser is convinced everyone's out to get 
him."

The trick for social workers who deal with meth addicts is to recognize the 
signs of addiction - the incoherence, the exhaustion, the suspicious flesh 
wounds, the chemical reek that most people liken to cat urine - so they can 
call cops for backup.

As for the labs themselves, Kerr and Long have one iron rule: if you see 
one, get the hell away from it.

"Don't go near it. Evacuate everyone from the area and call 911. Don't try 
to shut it down," said Kerr. "These things generate toxic gas, they catch 
fire, they explode.

"You know one way the narcotics cops have of figuring out where the meth 
lab is on a street? If they see a lot of dopers going outside to have a 
cigarette, they know which door to knock on."
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