Pubdate: Mon, 29 Aug 2005
Source: Red Deer Advocate (CN AB)
Copyright: 2005 Red Deer Advocate
Contact:  http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2492
Author: Rick Zemanek

GET KIDS OUT OF DRUG HOMES

Red Deer city RCMP officer Cpl. Steve Cormack has seen a lot of crap in his
years on the force. As trained professionals, dealing with people at their
worst moments, police must try to distance themselves emotionally from those
cases.

But there are exceptions. And when Cormack speaks of a recent drug bust
involving methamphetamine (crystal meth) in which two children aged nine and
seven were living in the residence, he can't help but get emotional.

It's alarming, he said. "It's frustrating that parents would put their
children at risk like that. It's (crystal meth) is dangerous, very dangerous
stuff." The officer fears children, could somehow get hold of the highly
dangerous and addictive drug and ingest it.

"Rot" is how a local provincial court judge recently described drug-induced
criminal behaviour fuelled by crystal meth, a problem which has now been
presented by the federal government as a national plague - calling for a
maximum sentence of life in jail for violators in extreme circumstances.

Accordingly, the Alberta government has taken a stand for the protection of
children being raised in a drug-based environment by planning to introduce
legislation next spring that targets parents who operate meth labs and crack
houses.

Did somebody say parents? These are not parents. By exposing youngsters to
this deadly poison and raising them in a sub-human existence, these
so-called parents have put their lives ahead of everybody else, including
their children.

"It's deplorable that we have children in this province in deplorable
conditions in a grow-op or meth lab, which is extremely dangerous," said
Alberta's Children's Services Minister Heather Forsyth. "We want to send a
clear message (through new legislation) to organized crime that we're not
going to tolerate our children being apprehended in a drug house."

Forsyth is doing her homework with a planned trip to Seattle to study
Washington state's approach to the problem. There, police have enhanced
powers to crack down on parents neglecting children in a drug-laced
household, or exposing them to toxic residues.

Last year, the crime rate in Red Deer skyrocketed alarmingly, by more than
53 per cent. Steve Walton, a retired drug detective from Calgary who now
educates Central Alberta youth, says there is a definite link between high
methamphetamine use and high crime rates. Local AADAC counsellor Tom Smith
says people battling meth addiction now make up about a quarter of his
caseload.

It's fair to conclude that with the explosive crime rate, and the increased
demand for meth addiction counselling, that the case of the two children
found in the recent meth bust is only the tip of the iceberg in Red Deer.
Meth addiction is not just a single-person's game.

An officer at the Red Deer bust, in which police found 55 grams of crystal
meth, stolen property and $2,400 in cash, conceded that it's widespread, but
time has its restraints. He said police could bust a house a day for the
next month, but can't because they get tied up with paperwork for a few days
after each raid.

It's a time-consuming process, which is necessary if a person is to be
afforded his or her rights under the Canadian Charter, whether we like it or
not.

Veteran drug officer Sgt. Jeff Kerr says the cooking stew used to make
crystal meth is so strong and toxic that police find toddlers with meth in
their systems just because they were crawling around the floor.

Officers busting meth labs have found bad cases of child neglect, says Kerr.
"The people have basically given up on the children for the drugs."

It's a situation we cannot tolerate. Children in these circumstances must be
removed and protected.
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MAP posted-by: Josh