Pubdate: Tue, 16 Nov 2004
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2004 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Jonathan Fowlie, CanWest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

EXAGGERATING DRUG EFFECTS A TURN-OFF, MD SAYS

Sensational Stories Could Result In Young People Ignoring Facts

VANCOUVER - Over-dramatizing the dangers of methamphetamine use to
young people across B.C. is unlikely to improve the problems with the
drug in the province, and could lead kids to doubt the actual dangers
of the synthetic stimulant, B.C.'s provincial health officer said Monday.

"The question is, do you want to make it sound like everybody is at
risk and everybody is using it?" Dr. Perry Kendall asked Monday while
taking a break from the Western Canadian Summit on Methamphetamine,
"or do you want to say, 'No it's a dangerous drug and most people know
it's a dangerous drug, and they will tend not to use it?' "

Drawing parallels with the sensationalized 1938 anti-drug movie Reefer
Madness, Kendall warned that if officials get "too worked up," or
spend too much time in a campaign against methamphetamine, there is a
very real risk they will take the problem "out of context of what
works in terms of drug-abuse prevention and education."

Explaining further, he said that if kids hear overstated messages
about how addictive the drug can be, for example, they might doubt the
actual facts, especially if they know people who have used it and are
not addicted.

While he said he does not think things have gotten notably out of
control yet, he does plan to bring his concerns to the methamphetamine
summit that kicked off Monday in Vancouver.

For three days, experts from B.C., Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan,
the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, will be gathering to discuss
the growing problem of methamphetamine use in the western provinces
and territories.

"The point of this event is to bring together the various stakeholders
from across the four provinces [and two territories] to increase the
state of knowledge and begin to map out the issue," said Jennifer
Vornbrock, chair of the summit.

Methamphetamine is a stimulant that can be highly addictive and can
lead to mental and physical problems such as paranoia depression
violence and, potentially, death. Once the drug's "high" stops, the
user often becomes extremely depressed and possibly suicidal.

Vornbrock said speakers will present to a "consensus panel" of nine
experts in various fields, ranging from John Borody, CEO of the
Addiction Foundation of Manitoba, to Anne-Elyse Deguire, senior
research analyst with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse in Ottawa.

Members of the panel can ask questions of the presenters, as can the
250 or so delegates. The goal of the summit is to emerge with a consensus.

Vornbrock said it would be difficult to anticipate what that statement
might entail, but she said some of the topics on the agenda include:
Defining the problem of the drug in the western provinces and
territories, gathering information on production and enforcement
issues and finding opportunities for collaboration among agencies and
organizations.

Among the voices at the summit will be that of Kendall, who said he's
in support of a general anti-drug campaign that includes
methamphetamine for most kids, along with a targeted approach for the
most vulnerable, such as street youth.

It's a view that not all share.

"I think it's easy to see that extreme end of things, to see the
people who are really addicted, who are on the streets," said Caitlin
Padgett, co-ordinator of a support program for street youth. "I think
with crystal meth, it's something that's in high schools and in rural
communities and small towns. It's a drug that has the potential to
show up anywhere."

Padgett said while she thinks the summit is a move in the right
direction, she's concerned because methusers are "fairly absent from
being here."
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MAP posted-by: Derek