Pubdate: Tue, 06 Sep 2005
Source: Banff Crag & Canyon, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2005, The Banff Crag & Canyon
Contact:  http://www.banffcragandcanyon.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1033
Author: Dave Husdal
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH NOT SEEN AS BIG BANFF PROBLEM

Banff Crag & Canyon -- Methamphetamine use isn't yet deemed a major
problem by Banff Mounties, despite the fact it was raised in the
community's highest profile court case last week.

"We're just not seeing the abuse here yet," Banff RCMP Staff Sgt. Bill
Young said Friday, responding to a question from the Crag about the
use of the stimulant in the community.

While Young said he certainly couldn't claim the drug isn't being
abused in Banff, information compiled by police and other agencies,
including Mineral Springs Hospital and the Alberta Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Commission, doesn't point toward widespread abuse of the drug in
Banff. Methamphetamine use has been growing in many Alberta
communities.

Dr. George Duska told a Calgary court last week that Albert George
Muckle, the 25-year-old man accused of aggravated sexual assault and
attempted murder of a 20-year-old Banff woman in Central Park on July
11, admitted to him that he was coming down from a high induced by
methamphetamine, alcohol and marijuana on the day the woman was attacked.

Muckle told a Banff provincial court hearing last week that he wanted
to plead guilty in the case, but was prevented from doing so prior to
being examined by a psychiatrist.

He was deemed mentally fit to enter a plea in the case at last
Wednesday's hearing, and is scheduled to be back in Banff provincial
court again on Sept. 19 to enter a plea on the two charges he faces.

Young's contention that methamphetamine use hasn't risen to major
problem levels in the Bow Valley is backed by what counsellors are
seeing at Canmore's AADAC office.

"At this point in time we're not seeing it as a major issue that
people are reporting," said Rebecca Harckham, area supervisor for
AADAC in Canmore. The Canmore office serves clients from Lake Louise
to Kananaskis.

She said use of the highly addictive stimulant here isn't at the
problem levels reported in many other communities.

Methamphetamine use and a lack of federal resources to fight it have
been raised as concerns by Wild Rose MP Myron Thompson, who has said
the federal Liberal strategy aimed at stemming the increasing abuse of
crystal meth "amounts to little more than window dressing."

Last month the Liberal government announced that it had moved
methamphetamine to Schedule 1 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances
Act, which provides access to the highest maximum penalties.

"This is like fighting a major disease with a band-aid. What are
needed are minimum prison sentences for criminals who are profiting by
destroying the lives of Canadians," Thompson said in a news release.
"Courts are not even imposing the current maximums, and we have seen
consistently in the past that when maximum sentences are raised, there
is no corresponding increase in penalties."

According to crime statistics for 2004 from Statistics Canada's Centre
for Justice Statistics, there were only 59 drug offences reported in
Banff last year, with 37 of those offences relating to cannabis --
marijuana -- and 14 related to cocaine, including five cocaine
trafficking offences. Only four reported offences related to other
drugs. 
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