[Mb-civic] CBC News - TOUGHER METH SENTENCES NOT ENOUGH: ADDICTION COUSELLORS

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TOUGHER METH SENTENCES NOT ENOUGH: ADDICTION COUSELLORS  
WebPosted Fri Aug 12 13:42:53 2005

---A day after Ottawa hiked prison terms for crystal meth cookers and
dealers, people working with addicts say tougher sentences aren't enough
to solve the drug problem.

 INDEPTH: Crystal meth FAQs



"It's not so much locking the people up who are doing it," said Phil
Gross of Winnipeg, a former user who now counsels other addicts. "It's
making the chemicals that produce the drug unavailable. Whoever makes it,
they've got to stop making it available."



  FROM AUGUST 11, 2005: Crystal meth makers now face life in prison


Many of the ingredients that are cooked together to produce crystal meth
are available in pharmacies and in hardware stores. It's a volatile mix
of cold remedies, iodine, drain cleaner, batteries, paint thinner,
acetone and rubbing alcohol.

 Manitoba to restrict ingredients

Manitoba Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh is looking at measures
already in place in some U.S. states that limit access to the raw
materials. The province intends to introduce its own strategy to fight
the drug this fall.

"Everything is on the table in terms of putting in place restrictions on
access to the key ingredient, pseudoephedrine," Mackintosh said. "The
cold remedies will very soon not be as accessible."

In North Dakota, cold medications that can be used to create crystal meth
can only be bought one box at a time and in Oregon, people need a
doctor's prescription to buy cold medications that contain ephedrine.


John Borody of the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba said getting rid of
crystal meth is not that easy.

"The problem is there's numerous ways of making this drug. The cold
medications, the cold remedies, are just one way," Borody said. "So, if
they stop that and the people really want to make it, there are other
ways of making it."

Causes need attention too

Addiction counsellors in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside welcomed the
government focus on the issue, but said the most important thing was
tackling the root causes of drug use.

"It's not about the stuff or the crystal meth," said Mark Townsend, a
worker with the Portland Hotel Society that helps house addicts. "It's
about the pain and suffering and complex issues that you are still going
to be dealing with."

Health Canada telephone surveys suggest about 200,000 Canadians have used
a form of crystal meth in the past year. But the agency said the number
is actually probably much higher because information on hard-core users
such as street youth is difficult to obtain.

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