Pubdate: Thu, 08 Sep 2005
Source: Outlook, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Outlook
Contact:  http://www.northshoreoutlook.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1433
Author: Justin Beddall
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

FIGHTING CRYSTAL METH

North Van Sets Up Task Force To Battle Deadly Drug

When the superintendent of the North Van RCMP asked Sheryl Armstrong, a 
sergeant with the detachment's general investigation section, to head up 
the enforcement side of North Vancouver's new task force on crystal meth, 
she wasn't completely aware of the death-grip the drug already had on some 
of this community's youth.

But less than a week after her conversation with Superintendent Gord 
Tomlinson, Armstrong visited a safe house in North Vancouver and met a pair 
of 12-year-old girls who were addicted to meth. She later learned of 
several other youngsters - one just eight years old - who had also fallen 
prey to the drug that is cheaper, more addictive and deadlier than crack 
cocaine.

"This drug is very scary," Armstrong told a packed house at the North 
Vancouver Salvation Army church Tuesday night that had assembled to discuss 
the growing problem of crystal meth amongst North Shore teens.

"If we don't stop it, it will take over," Armstrong warned, adding crystal 
meth is now the drug of choice for kids. "It scares me."

After presenting a 40-minute video called "Life or Meth: A Community Takes 
Action," Gord Robson, the Meadowridge Rotary Club member who helped to 
galvanize the fight against crystal meth in Maple Ridge, asked Armstrong if 
she believed that meth cooking operations were also active in North and 
West Vancouver.

"Oh, yes, there's lots," she said.

The purpose of Tuesday's town-hall style meeting was to set up a North 
Vancouver task force on crystal meth using the template that has had such a 
positive impact in Maple Ridge. It was the second crystal meth awareness 
meeting organized by North Shore Salvation Army community director Peter 
Defehr and Sue Cook, a concerned resident who lives in the Lower Lonsdale area.

Defehr, who witnesses the ravages of the drug on a daily basis, has been an 
outspoken advocate of using a Maple Ridge-style approach to tackle the meth 
problem in North Vancouver.

Maple Ridge's multi-tiered approach, involving the police, municipality and 
other stakeholders, employed a three-pronged strategy to deal with the 
spread of the deadly drug: education, enforcement and treatment.

During Tuesday's meeting, it was announced that Armstrong would head up the 
North Vancouver crystal meth task force's enforcement initiative.

For those who still refuse to believe that meth is a problem in these 
parts, Dr. Meng Lim, Vancouver Coastal Health's North Shore clinical 
director of mental health and addiction services for children and youth, 
relayed her own experiences dealing with kids addicted to meth.

"It's a huge problem and growing," she said during a question period at the 
end of the forum.

And for those not prepared to take a doctor's word for it, several 
recovering meth addicts also spoke.

Brad, a goateed 23-year-old with a large tattoo on his arm, earnestly 
talked about his experiences with meth. He started using at 15 and soon his 
life was on a downward trajectory. His meth use - and criminal activity to 
support the addiction - sometimes led him to North Vancouver, he admitted 
afterward. He believes education about the drug is critical.

"In the schools it's the most important because that's when the kids start 
using," said the former addict who has been clean for the last five months.

Another recovering meth addict, Jason, described the drug like this: "This 
stuff grabs you like King Kong."

Robson, who along with his wife Mary, have been instrumental in dealing 
with the problem in Maple Ridge, said, "It's something I see as a deadly 
poison."

Robson said after an initial meeting among stakeholders in Maple Ridge, it 
took their task force 30 days to put together a strategic plan to present 
to the public. The community's crystal meth strategy was implemented in 90 
days, he added.

Members of North Vancouver's new task force will meet on Sept. 17 with 
members of the Maple Ridge task force and another fledgling group from 
Surrey to begin to mobilize resources and implement strategies.

"I'm happy to see it move ahead," said City of North Vancouver Mayor Barb 
Sharp, one of several council members from North and West Vancouver in 
attendance.

North Vancouver RCMP Const. John MacAdam was also in attendance.

"I'm here to support them because the North Vancouver RCMP realizes crystal 
meth is a growing concern," he said.

MacAdam said meth isn't as big a problem on the North Shore as in the 
downtown areas but conceded the problem is "in the mail."
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