Pubdate: Wed, 14 Sep 2005
Source: Surrey Now (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc., A Canwest Company
Contact:  http://www.thenownewspaper.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462
Author: Keith Baldrey
Note: Keith Baldrey is legislature bureau chief of BCTV News on Global.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

DEATH FROM CRYSTAL METH SIGNALS NEED FOR ACTION

When it comes to tackling health and social problems, there is one area 
where all governments come up short. That area is the preventative side. A 
dollar spent on prevention can save many more dollars down the road, but 
politicians are fixated on getting the most immediate bang for today's buck.

But preventative policies do work. One notable example is smoking. The 
smoking rate among young people in B.C. has dropped significantly over the 
past decade, thanks in no small part to the very aggressive and graphic 
anti-smoking campaign in schools launched by the previous NDP government.

However, there is another area where preventative measures are urgently 
needed to combat a growing problem that is consuming young lives at an 
alarming rate. I'm talking about street drugs.

And I'm not referring to marijuana, heroin or cocaine. Instead, there is a 
particularly sinister drug that has become a scourge of society: crystal meth.

How evil this drug is was recently brought home to me in a very chilling 
and horrific way. A 13-year-old Victoria schoolgirl recently died after 
taking a street drug - likely ecstasy cut with crystal meth - for the first 
time. Her name was Mercedes Clarke, and she was a good friend of my oldest 
daughter. Mercedes was a tiny, sweet teenager who loved shopping, dancing 
and was eagerly awaiting her first day of high school. I used to tease her 
about her ever-changing hair colour, and the thought of her using drugs was 
a completely foreign idea to anyone who knew her.

But after a single instance of experimentation, she is dead and a community 
is still reeling from the shock and horror that accompanies a young 
person's death.

If an aggressive anti-smoking campaign can have so much positive influence 
on young people, shouldn't there be an equally aggressive anti-street drug 
campaign in our schools and communities? Shouldn't governments of all 
levels channel more tax dollars to that end?

Many young people seem to have gotten the message about smoking, and 
judging from the reaction I heard from young people when they learned of 
Premier Gordon Campbell's drinking-and-driving episode, they also have a 
dimmer view of that kind of behaviour than young people a decade ago.

But street-drug use can be an extremely dangerous activity. Death is not 
always the result, of course, but a drug like crystal meth (and pretty well 
all ecstasy is now cut with it) can have devastating results on one's 
health, both physically and mentally. Teeth and hair loss and skin lesions 
are some outcomes, and so is brain damage.

Encouragingly, some municipalities have realized the extent of the problem 
and have set up task forces to take control of the unwinding tragedy on 
their streets, including the North Shore, Surrey and Maple Ridge. Hopefully 
other towns will come on board. But the provincial government should start 
realizing it also has a major role to play in this war. The fight against 
street drugs must take place in our communities, but also in our schools.

Mercedes' death has had a profound impact on the kids who knew and loved 
her. Perhaps they will have a "herd immunity" that shields them from making 
the kind of mistake that robbed her of her glowing future. But one death is 
much too high a price to achieve that immunity. Surely, a better way is to 
get out in front of kids now, and send home the message that street drugs 
are evil, plain and simple.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman