Pubdate: Tue, 10 Jun 2003
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2003 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Jake Rupert

GETTING POLICE HOOKED ON DESIGNER DRUGS

A few years ago, an Ottawa police drug officer and a civilian youth worker 
who'd been working all-night dance parties went looking for information to 
help them deal with a rise in the use of chemical drugs.

They were unfamiliar with the drugs, their effects on users and how people 
sold them.

Staff Sgt. Marc Pinault and Louise Logue, a registered nurse who 
coordinates youth intervention and diversion for Ottawa police, got cursory 
information, but they had to figure much of the relatively new scene on 
their own -- largely through trial and error.

Frustrated, they decided to see if other emergency personnel around the 
country had the same problems and started making some phone calls.

"We found the same thing pretty much everywhere we looked in the country," 
Staff Sgt. Pinault said.

"Patrol officers, even drugs officers, paramedics, firefighters and 
hospital staff, were pretty much in the dark about what these drugs were, 
the symptoms, the effects and how to deal with people using them."

There was a gap in the knowledge emergency personnel needed to deal with a 
trend in drug use.

To remedy the problem, they teamed up with Vancouver RCMP drug awareness 
officer Cpl. Scott Rintoul, who was already looking seriously at the issue, 
and others to do something about it. They hatched a plan for a standard 
training program for emergency personnel across the country on the issues 
surrounding these relatively new drugs.

That was the birth of the national integrated training program on chemical 
drugs for first responders, which will teach police and other officials all 
about designer drugs.

"The idea was to come up with a comprehensive way to get these people 
better prepared for what they're almost inevitably going to have to deal 
with," Staff Sgt. Pinault said.

After a few months, they put together a business plan and sought money from 
the Department of Justice's National Crime Prevention Centre, the RCMP and 
the federal Solicitor General's office.

The centre administers Canada's Crime Prevention Investment Fund, which 
finances innovative programs aimed at lowering crime rates. The centre 
granted them the money to pursue their goal. They received $110,000 from 
the fund, $30,000 from the solicitor general and $10,000 from the RCMP. 
Police forces, hospitals, paramedic organizations and fire departments 
across the country have made personnel and other resources available for free.

With this money, they outlined the national integrated training program on 
chemical drugs for first responders. It will eventually include a training 
manual, video, and computer presentations. It will explain what the drugs 
are, trends in their use, where they are used, who uses them, their effects 
and symptoms for users, and how to deal with people on which drugs.

Sections will tell how other government agencies and people can lessen the 
dangers these drugs pose: bylaws on the use of buildings for all-night 
dance parties and safety inspections of these facilities; security 
requirements; ways of dealing with organizers of the parties; and how to 
recognize a drug-assisted sexual assault.

Emergency personnel will be told how to run information programs for 
parents, teachers and youth social workers, and how to stay safe when 
entering a laboratory used to produce these drugs.

The idea is to cover every possible issue relating to these drugs. In the 
last year, the number of raves and all-night dance parties has started to 
decline, while the drugs, sometimes called designer drugs, have become part 
of everyday culture for some young people. Officials with the Canadian 
Centre on Substance Abuse say the use of drugs such as ecstasy, MDA, 
ketamine, methamphetamine, GHB and MDE has grown exponentially in the last 
few years.

Richard Garlick, spokesman for the centre, which conducts large-scale 
surveys on drug use, says the use of some of the drugs in Canada is so new, 
the centre has limited information on their use.

"These drugs didn't even show up in earlier surveys, and the use is only 
being reported in the last few years," he said. "But with the limited 
information available, it is safe to say there has been an increase in the 
use."

Mr. Garlick cites the use of ecstasy. In 1993, a survey of roughly 5,000 
Ontario students aged 12 to 18 showed 0.6 per cent had tried ecstasy in the 
previous 12 months.

In 2001, the same survey saw that number increase to 6.0 per cent, a 
tenfold increase.

The latest RCMP report on illicit drug trends in Canada reveals no seizures 
of ecstasy in Canada until 1996, when 1,221 pills were confiscated. The 
number has steadily increased to roughly two million pills being seized in 
2001 (latest available statistics).

During this time, there have been increases in the overdoses reported, the 
labs making the drugs discovered and charges involving the drugs.

"We are in an era of synthetic drugs in Canada and globally," Cpl. Rintoul 
said. "And because the issues surrounding the use of these drugs touch on 
many different areas, there has to be a coordinated approach. It's not just 
a law enforcement issue."

The problem touches many areas of life, and the training program aims to 
give officials the materials that they need to understand the use of these 
drugs.

The officers have conducted three pilot training sessions in Vancouver, 
Montreal and Ottawa. Cpl. Rintoul says the feedback has been overwhelming, 
and word has gotten out about the project.

"I'm getting calls and e-mails from around the country saying, 'When will 
this be ready? We want to get going on this,'" he said. "The goal is to 
keep people alive, and we hope the manual will give people the information 
they need to do that."

Another pilot training session in Toronto is scheduled for the fall. By 
then, the executive committee of the project will be finishing the program. 
They hope to start producing the end product before the new year.

Cpl. Rintoul, Staff Sgt. Pinault and Ms. Logue know completely stopping the 
use of these drugs is not realistic, but the program will provide tools for 
dealing with this type of drug use for anyone who calls.

Nobody will have to start from zero again.

"If we can prevent one death, we've been successful," Cpl. Rintoul said.
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MAP posted-by: Alex