Pubdate: Wed, 01 Jun 2005
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Gabe Gonda
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

TOUGHER LAWS ON 'METH' URGED

Crackdown Sought On Deadly Drug Mayors Pressed To Tackle Problem

It began like a typical day for Pat; he woke up and got high on
crystal meth just as he had every day for the past five years.

But on this morning, the 35-year-old labourer stepped out of
character. He picked up the phone and dialled his mayor. It wasn't a
crank call, though.

Pat wanted help, so the mayor invited him to city hall for a talk.

"He was nervous," Regina mayor Pat Fiacco recalls. "I asked him if he
was stoned and he said, "Yes -- I need help.'"

The two men talked in Fiacco's office for a tense hour before Pat
agreed to get into the mayor's Acura SUV for the five-block ride to
addiction services, where Pat was to take the first tentative step
into detox.

Fiacco will be thinking of Pat tomorrow morning when he asks 21 other
Canadian mayors to support his call for stronger laws and policies to
fight crystal meth, a cheap, highly addictive stimulant that has swept
through the Prairies and into national consciousness in recent years.

Officials in the West are grappling hard with meth: On June 10,
Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert will host his three fellow western
premiers in Regina for a crystal meth summit meeting. Fiacco,
meanwhile, is pushing for an integrated national response to meth in
St. John's, Nfld. where the mayors of Canada's 22 big cities are
meeting at this weekend's annual conference of the Federation of
Canadian Municipalities.

Earlier this year, Fiacco opened his office to anyone seeking help
with meth, hoping to speed people like Pat into treatment as the
number of addicts swells in his city. Now, he wants the big city
mayors' caucus to adopt a motion calling on the federal government to
reclassify crystal meth under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act,
making it subject to stiffer penalties.

Meth is classified as a Schedule 3 drug, the same as LSD and ecstasy.
Fiacco wants it to be designated Schedule 1.

"It's basically the difference between a misdemeanour and felony,"
said Staff Insp. Dan Hayes, head of Toronto's drug squad. Fiacco's
motion also calls for banning from store shelves the ingredients that
go into meth -- pseudoephedrine, iodine tincture and red phosphorus.

Even small amounts of meth cause a spiked heart rate and blood
pressure and can produce a roller coaster of emotions and effects,
including euphoria, irritability, confusion, anxiety, paranoia and
aggressiveness. Meth can lead to respiratory problems, irregular
heartbeat, anorexia, brain damage and death.

The stuff is simple to cook and makeshift labs have sprouted across
much of rural Canada and the U.S., where the drug is sometimes
referred to as "hillbilly crack."

In cities like Toronto, meth still lags behind crack cocaine as the
biggest problem street drug, but officials say it's becoming more
popular, particularly in the gay community, where use has been linked
to unsafe sex practices and a possible increase in sexually
transmitted diseases.

"It's not so much that people take drugs, it's the unsafe sex they
have when they're partying and taking drugs," said Liz Jansen, of
Toronto Public Health.

Hayes calls meth a burgeoning issue for city police. "In four or five
years, we'll be talking about crystal meth as we're talking today
about (marijuana) grow-ops -- we're coming across more and more meth
labs already."

Fiacco expects 100 per cent support for his motion this week,
including an endorsement from Toronto Mayor David Miller.

"We're supportive of the idea," said Patchen Barss, a spokesman for
Miller. The mayor and councillors last year asked city staff to draft
a comprehensive drug strategy that will be ready for debate by fall.

Regina is also working on a broad drug strategy. It's in the planning
stages, with representatives of the police force, addiction
counsellors, politicians and school officials meeting to discuss how
best to deal with meth and other illicit substances.

Fiacco is the father of a 21-year-old daughter and 18- and 17-year-old
sons, all of whom have smoked pot, though none, he said, has touched
meth. The drug took hold of a girl at one of his son's schools this
year, turning her from a healthy A student into a skin-and-bones patient.

Pat, the addict who called Fiacco earlier this month, may not be
faring much better. The mayor gave Pat his cellphone number after
dropping him off for counselling that day. An hour later, Pat called
while walking home.

He told the mayor he had agonized over the decision, but couldn't
bring himself to check into detox.

"It just tells you how addictive that bloody drug is," Fiacco said.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin