GRANT SOUGHT TO FIGHT CRYSTAL METH

Province Announces $2 Million Towards Community-Based
Programs

Squamish could be looking at a $10,000 grant to help fight crystal
meth use in the corridor.

The provincial government has announced $2 million to support
community-based anti-meth programs in an effort to fight crystal meth.

The Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) will administer the funding
through $10,000 seed grants for communities to start meth watch
organizations, create resource inventories, and provide meth awareness
training for parents, teachers and youths.

Cliff Doherty, Squamish's director of protective services, said
Squamish will be making an application for the grant.

Jessie Burnett, a drug and alcohol prevention worker with Sea to Sky
Community Services, said the initiative is a positive one for the
government because it stresses preventative methods rather than
waiting for the problem to become more developed.

"When a new drug comes out and kids don't know what it is or the
consequences, it is easier for them to become more involved," she
said. "When they are aware of the warning signs they can look for the
symptoms of users in other children and adults."

In terms of the criteria for receiving the grants, Richard Taylor,
executive director of the UBCM, said if proposals show local council
support, have a budget, and show the activities the money will fund,
they would be processed within a couple of days.

"We don't want to hold anyone up," he said.

Leanna Buffie of Sea to Sky Community Services said the upcoming
education programs for meth awareness the grant would support, would
focus on the local youth and would attempt to engage them in a
friendly way.

"We have spoken to the youth and they have said they want more youth
stories involving the drugs, so we are going to try and provide that,"
she said. Drug and alcohol counsellor Denise Evans said in terms of
programming the funding would be "a drop [in the ocean]" but in terms
of education the $10,000 would be significant. She would like to see
the issue expanded to cocaine use because of the high criminality
associated with the two drugs.

Evans said the use of crystal meth in Squamish has not been rising but
has been steady. She thinks the success of educational programs in the
past is shown by the lack of an increase of meth users in Squamish.