On Wednesday, Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth spoke about the struggle with meth in the city at an information session. The session took place at the Gonzaga Middle School in North Point Douglas, there were about 75 people present and the event started 7 p.m. Some were there just to listen and get some information. Others were present because they have somebody in their family or among their friends battling a meth addiction or dealing with a stress after a meth-related incident of a psychological trauma.
There were also other speakers, one of them Jenna Werch from the Aboriginal Youth Opportunities. She was speaking about the real threat of methamphetamine addiction of teenagers and how it affects not only their actions today but also their lives in the future. Due to criminal records in the past, some young people, even after they overcome the addiction, trying to come back to normal life, will get problems with further education or trying to get a job, most of the employers will check criminal record and most likely will refuse to hire a meth junkie or a criminal.
Speakers were talking about, how people on meth are no longer productive, so they have to find other ways to get money to fuel their addiction and get more drugs. People on meth turn to pity theft and other, more serious crimes. Bike theft, residential break-ins, garage theft is now a rising problem in the city. Just recently there were a number of bike theft, most of them were arrested later by Winnipeg Police and incidents linked to meth usage.