Crystal meth hasn't taken off in N.L., and police say latest bust is keeping it at bay
A bag of crystal meth, seized in a police bust, came as a surprise to one of the highest-ranking cops in Newfoundland and Labrador last week.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Steve Conohan said while dealing crystal meth is not unheard of in this province, it is rare. The 350 grams of it seized on May 14 is believed to be the largest haul of the drug ever recorded by a police force in the province.
"While we might have a user population, it hasn't become a full blown problem yet," Conohan told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.
Despite its highly addictive nature, Conohan said the drug has never taken off in the province, and no crystal meth laboratories have ever been found by police.
"We have no domestic production of it," he said.
"We don't see anyone who has undertaken to try to manufacture their own crystal meth. So we know it hasn't taken a stranglehold here."
Because it's not produced locally, Conohan said its presence in last week's bust is "100 per cent" related to organized crime.
'Significant' amount seized
Crystal meth is often sold in doses weighing one-tenth of a gram, meaning the amount seized in what the RCMP called Project Blowfish was enough for 3,500 doses.
The street value could have been worth around $50,000.
"We don't have, to my knowledge, a huge user base of crystal methamphetamine abusers so this would be quite significant for sure," Conohan said.
The RCMP began seeing the drug in the province in 2000. Since then, there have been some busts, but nothing close to the amount found in Project Blowfish, which resulted in the arrests of two people and the seizure of eight other types of drugs.
Crystal meth is different from the powdered form of methamphetamine in that it can be smoked. Conohan drew comparisons to the difference between crack cocaine and cocaine.
At around $10 to $15 a dose, it's relatively cheap, and the high can last as long as 12 hours.
Drug gaining prevalence
The provincial government created a committee to fight against crystal meth in 2006, comprised of health care workers, cabinet ministers and police officers.
"Unfortunately, it's so addictive, we fully expect it become the product of choice," said then-RNC chief Richard Deering, who described their efforts as preparing for a hurricane.
That storm never came. But 13 years later, Conohan said there's reason to prepare again.
"Crystal methamphetamine is one of those things, it's like all drug trends. They always start on the west part of the country and then make their way east. So we're finally starting to see, I guess, its prevalence," he said.
In Manitoba, as the opioid crisis started levelling off, police began to notice they were seizing more methamphetamine. The New York Times reported a similar pattern throughout the United States, particularly in the west coast state of Oregon.
Closer east, in New Brunswick, advocates say their surveys show an alarming rise in crystal meth.
Conohan said all parties involved in Newfoundland and Labrador need to go back to the strategies put forth by their working group and make sure they are still being implemented, with education being at the forefront.
"I think everyone is well prepared, but it's implementing those strategies."
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