Pubdate: Thu, 08 Sep 2005
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2005 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Adrian Humphreys
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?241 (Methamphetamine - Canada)

A PRETTY TOWN WITH AN UGLY HABIT

Stratford, Ont.: Methamphetamine Is Ravaging Rural Canada

The picturesque community of Stratford, Ont., best known for its 
Shakespearean theatre and white swans in its Avon river, is being ravaged 
by methamphetamine, a synthetic, highly addictive street drug. And that has 
been hard for civic leaders -- constant boosters of its crucial tourist 
industry -- to admit.

"You don't normally picture that environment being home to a drug problem," 
said Dan Mathieson, Mayor of this city of 32,000 in rural Southwestern Ontario.

"But I think it is important for us to address it, meet it head-on and 
admit that it exists. That is something over the last three months we've 
been able to do. Our community's reaction has been one of outrage. First, 
it was denial of the problem, then accepting the fact that we need to do 
something about it."

That Stratford and the surrounding agricultural areas of Perth County are 
seen as the methamphetamine capital of Ontario highlights the unusual 
demographics of this home-cooked drug in Canada where the meth explosion is 
hitting hardest in rural communities.

Ground zero in the police war on methamphetamine has been towns such as 
Didsbury and Cremona, northwest of Calgary; Naicam and Spalding, east of 
Saskatoon; and Mr. Mathieson's hometown of Stratford.

"Clandestine drug labs have permeated neighbourhoods across Canada, and the 
threat is increasing," said Corporal Brent Hill of the RCMP's Chemical 
Diversion Program.

"The demand for synthetic drugs like methamphetamine and ecstasy continues 
to rise. They are drugs of choice commonly used at schools, at work, at 
nightclubs and at house parties. These drugs are produced in make-shift 
labs hidden in our communities."

Sergeant Doug Culver, the RCMP's national co-ordinator of synthetic drug 
operations, says labs cooking methamphetamine have been creeping east from 
British Columbia and have now been found in all provinces outside of 
Atlantic Canada.

"Ontario has the second highest concentration of clandestine drug lab 
activity in Canada topped only by British Columbia," Sgt. Culver said.

"Unfortunately, methamphetamine is a fairly simple chemical to make. It can 
be made with glassware that can be bought from department stores and 
products that can be bought from hardware stores and pharmacies," he said.

That might explain why rural youth, with less access to mainstream street 
drugs, are getting their hands on meth in increasing numbers.

"We have people that are doing cooks in the back of trucks as they drive up 
and down gravel roads trying to avoid detection which is from the smell, 
the odour that comes off of it," said Mr. Mathieson.

"We also have individuals doing cooks in farmers' fields and bushes. We 
have had raids on a house where they were doing the cooks in the basement 
with two young kids living upstairs."

It was last winter that young people in Perth County started being wheeled 
into Stratford General Hospital in alarming numbers, said Dr. Heather 
Keizer, the chief of psychiatry.

"We really saw a significant rise in the number of young people coming in 
with psychosis secondary to substance abuse. It was a dramatic rise in both 
the number of patients and the severity of their symptoms -- and the 
substance of choice for them was methamphetamine."

What is worse, said Dr. Keizer, the psychological effects of meth seem to 
be more robust than other street drugs.

"With most drug psychosis, once they're clean, they're able to come off 
their medication. With methamphetamine, however, we find the mind 
disturbance is more permanent. I have patients, quite a few, who have not 
returned to full brain function.

"It is really taking away a lot of potential in terms of the young people 
in the community. It's disabling. The level of drug use in our high school 
is disabling the education system," she said.

Her youngest meth-related patient was 12 years old; the oldest was 52. 
Generally, they are between the ages of 18 and 26.

"All drugs are a concern but this one is very potent and causes me 
particular concern. It's bad news," said Dr. Keizer.

"We need to educate the kids: this can really damage you on first use and 
it is very addictive. It looks like it is causing some real, long-term damage."

Penalties for possessing, making and trafficking methamphetamine were 
increased last month by the federal government, putting it on a par with 
heroin and cocaine. And the RCMP has been working with chemical 
manufacturers, distributors and retailers, training them to spot and report 
suspicious purchases.

A meth laboratory is being set up at the Ontario Police College in Aylmer, 
Ont., to train officers in dealing with the dangers of the illicit set-ups.

And there are moves to restrict the sale of popular cold medications 
containing pseudoephedrine, a chemical that illicit "cooks" use to make 
methamphetamine.

But resources are also needed to help small communities deal with those 
already hurt by meth, said Dr. Keizer.

"Stratford is a beautiful little town. We should be able to handle this, to 
fight this -- but it's going to be a little bit of a fight still."

Stratford Mayor Dan Mathieson, left, says the Southwestern Ontario town, 
known for its Shakespearean theatre, first denied it had a drug problem. It 
and the surrounding rural areas of Perth County are seen as the 
methamphetamine capital of Ontario. The drug is easily made in home labs 
like the one above.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom