Pubdate: Tue, 09 May 2006
Source: Maple Ridge Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc
Contact:  http://www.mrtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1372
Author: Danna Johnson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH ADDICTS WREAK HAVOC AT HOSPITAL

ridge meadows hospital can't contain its meth addicts

Maple Ridge-Mission MLA Randy Hawes said he's been in touch with 
Solicitor General John Les about it, and is hoping a solution can be 
found ASAP.

Hawes said he has spoken to Les regarding the need for a "holding 
place for people that are in drug psychosis and considered dangerous."

Crystal methamphetamine users in the area, he said, are presenting at 
the local emergency department and putting staff at risk.

Those addicts, said Hawes, end up trapped in "no-man's land" and 
there's no place for them to go.

"They are violent and they are a medical problem...they're not a 
police problem, but the hospital's not equipped for that," he told 
The TIMES on Monday.

What is needed, added Hawes, is a place that police can take people 
suffering from drug psychosis where there is medical help as well as 
appropriate restraints.

"The old Vancouver Pre-Trial Centre is one of the sites that was 
discussed," Hawes said.

The Liberal MLA said he has spoken to many doctors and nurses who 
have indicated that crystal meth-induced psychosis is a significant 
concern in the local emergency room.

He suggested that this problem is a new one.

"This stuff, this crystal meth, it's producing a new breed of 
psychosis," he said.

"From the provincial perspective I'm trying to push to get some solution."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman