Like rock stars coming back by popular demand, the B.C. Crystal Meth Society is returning to the Central Interior about six weeks after its first tour of local schools.
This time the society is also holding a public forum for the whole community.
Its graphic message about the effects of the crystal meth drug has caught on here, with calls for more and younger students to get to see the seminar.
"The presentation could and should also be directed to a younger audience, such as 10- or 11-year-olds, since this is an entry age for many young people to consider experimenting (with crystal meth)," said local alternative education teacher Andy Wilson after the February tour.
"My students had some amazing questions and comments when we got back to class and they have continued to be thoughtful about it," said Laurie Todd, a teacher at Heather Park Middle School. "One thing they all agreed on was that perhaps some of our younger students needed to see this as well."
A survey of the roughly 3,000 students who took the workshop stated 35 per cent of them know someone who has tried crystal meth and 75 per cent said yes to knowing someone who used ecstasy (another drug often containing crystal meth).
"I think the message is getting across," said Mark McLaughlin, president of the society and one of the seminar presenters. "It has given rise to all these communities asking for our attendance. It points to a huge audience and a huge need for this information."
Which is why, on this trip to the area, they are going much farther afield than just Prince George. The tour starts Monday in Williams Lake and before it is done on April 8 it will have also gone to Vanderhoof, Fort St. James, Fort Fraser and Burns Lake, as well as Prince George where it will visit a number of schools, the youth containment centre, a Rotary luncheon and a Carrier Sekani Family Services youth conference.
The main event is April 5, which is the public forum on crystal meth at Vanier Hall at 7 p.m. The event is free, but donations are accepted.
"This is the first time since our first visit to Prince George (November 2007) where the whole public can come and talk about crystal meth," said McLaughlin. "A lot has been learned since then by the public, and we are hearing about a big thirst for parents and teachers and law enforcement and health-care workers and kids who want to get together and tackle this issue."
Meth is made easily from concocting common household products (the cooking process is often toxic to the brain of the drug maker, however). It is cheap enough that elementary school lunch money can buy it, and it is breathtaking in its ability to addict the user and eat the brain structure and body of the addict. It also comes with shocking mood swings and aggression, including uncharacteristic violence. Because of this combination of factors, meth is considered by authorities to be a crisis drug.
"The more rural and isolated an area is, the more they need to get this message, because those are the most vulnerable kids, the ones who are farthest from the information on a regular basis," McLaughlin said. "We want to get to these places, which is why we welcome support from the community so we can afford to travel with this message."
