A St. Albert man was arrested earlier this month after being found trying to sell about 300 doses of methamphetamine in St. Albert.
The St. Albert RCMP and members of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams arrested two people last Aug. 5 as part of an investigation of a dial-a-dope operation in St. Albert.
Dial-a-dope operations refer to cases where a drug dealer arranges a sale by phone and meets his or her customer at a pre-arranged location.
St. Albert RCMP Cpl. Laurel Kading said she was unsure if the suspects were arrested as part of an undercover operation or if they were simply observed by police doing a drug deal. The arrest did happen in St. Albert, and the suspects were not chased.
As part of the arrests, police seized various unspecified bits of drug paraphernalia and one ounce of methamphetamine divided into 71 small plastic bags for sale.
“One ounce of methamphetamine is a large amount,” Kading said, amounting to some 300 potential hits of the drug. She would not discuss the street value of these drugs.
Also known as meth, chalk, crank, crystal meth and ice, methamphetamine is an illegal synthetic drug often used at raves or parties that acts as a stimulant, reports Health Canada. Often sold in the form of a white powder, a pill, or crystals, it can be dissolved and injected, smoked, snorted or swallowed, and can (when injected) take effect within seconds.
Although available in St. Albert (along with most other illicit drugs), Kading said meth isn’t that popular here, as most users know of just how dangerous it is.
Meth causes the brain to release large amounts of the neurotransmitter dopamine, creating an addictive sense of euphoria, said Cate Nicholl, a nurse at Poundmaker’s Lodge near St. Albert. It also causes elevated heart rate and wakefulness, and can cause irritability, paranoia, aggression, seizures, strokes and heart attacks in its users.
“You see a lot of psychotic behaviours, auditory hallucinations, suicidal thoughts, mood disturbances,” she said.
“A lot of times doctors will see damage from methamphetamine use that’s similar to what Alzheimer’s disease causes.”
Meth is definitely a drug of concern in the Edmonton region, and Poundmaker’s often hosts clients who aim to break their addiction to it and other substances, Nicholl said.
The withdrawal symptoms are quite nasty and can last weeks, Nicholl said. Clients go through a medically supervised detox centre before they can go to a treatment centre such as Poundmaker’s.
Douglas Thomson, 55, of St. Albert has been charged with two counts of trafficking methamphetamine, one count of possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking and one count of possession of property obtained by crime.
Bobbi-Jo Starr, 33, of Edmonton has also been charged with one count of possession of drugs for the purposes of trafficking.
Thomson and Starr have been released on bail and are set to appear in St. Albert Provincial court this Sept. 16.
