Meth-related crime continuing to rise in Saskatoon: police

Staff Sgt. Darren Pringle says there has been an "explosion" of crime and arrests connected to methamphetamine use in Saskatoon over the last several years.

Arrests for possession and trafficking rose each year between 2012 and 2019, according to the latest set of statistics released by the Saskatoon Police Service on Thursday, and the numbers are continuing an upward trend in 2020.

"It's a longer lasting high, it's a more intense high and it's a cheaper highand it should be no surprise to anyone that we're seeing this ... explosion of methamphetamine in the city," Pringle said.

Withdrawal also results in physical pain, which could result in people turning to property crime, which has also been on the rise in Saskatoon, Pringle added.

"You smash a couple of car windows, you get some change out of the change trays, you find a five on the front seat of thecar and you can facilitate that high again for yourself very quickly," the staff sergeant said.

The data set, which shows 15 arrests for possession and four arrests for trafficking in 2012, shows that trafficking arrests have increased, but have been significantly outpaced by possession arrests.

An increasing amount of possession charges stems from unrelated incidents or arrests, Pringle said. For example, someone may get arrested and then meth is found during a search, or meth may be discovered and seized during a traffic stop.

The most danger lies in the unpredictability that meth brings to interactions between a person and police, Pringle said. There may be a cognitive and emotional decline with prolonged meth use, he added.

"It's not hard at all to produce this stuff," Pringle said. He said back in 2015, a lot of Saskatchewan's meth was coming from Alberta, along Highway 16.

Now, it's easier to access and manufacture as it can be done in apartments, vehicles or mobile labs, Pringle said, making direct reference to the TV show Breaking Bad, about a science-teacher-turned-meth-kingpin who cooked meth in an RV.

There have been 93 meth offences under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in Saskatoon so far in 2020. There were 53 at the same time in June 2019.

There have been 32 incidents of trafficking and 258incidents of possession this year.