Renovations and additions to the ATCO building on 12th Street at the end of the Hy-Grade Industrial park generated a $13.8 million dollar building permit for the Town of Drumheller in 2014. Total building permits issued by the Town in 2014 equal $28,847,741.

Building permits in the Town of Drumheller reached a record $28 million dollars in 2014.
    “We had a very good year in building permits,” said Mayor Terry Yemen. “Albeit there was two major ones, but still, they’re part of our community. It was a good year for Drumheller.”
     Just over twenty-one million of the total is for two large projects. The building permit for ATCO Electric’s renovation and addition to their  administration offices and shop on 12 Street at the end of the Hy-Grade Industrial Park  was a $13,800,000 permit.
    The 96-bed housing unit expansion at the Drumheller Penitentiary building permits taken out for work at the penitentiary in 2014 equalled $7.5 million dollars. Read the complete story in the January 28 edition of The Drumheller Mail.

On January 26, 2015, Earl William Davenport, an inmate from the medium security unit at Drumheller Institution was found unresponsive in his cell.
Staff members immediately began performing CPR and emergency services were called. The inmate could not be resuscitated.
At the time of his death, Mr. Davenport, 56 years old, had been serving an indeterminate sentence for First Degree
Murder and Second Degree Murder since November 27, 1987.
The inmate’s next of kin have been notified of his death.
As in all cases involving the death of an inmate, the police and the coroner have been notified, and Correctional Service Canada will review the circumstances of the incident.

Photos from the 511 Alberta camera show foggy driving conditions on Highway 9 in both directions, shortly before 1 pm Thursday, January 29. Top is from Highway 9 south near Horseshoe Canyon. Below is Highway 9 north near Morrin. Find current road reports from 511Alberta on The Drumheller Mail website at www.drumhellermail.com/index.php/features/road-report.

Environment Canada is calling for a chance of 5 cm of snow Friday evening in Drumheller, with a possible 2 cm to 4 cm of snow on Saturday, and sunny skies with an expected high of minus 10 for Super Bowl Sunday, February 1.
    Here’s a look at the week ahead:

Issued: 11:00 AM MST Friday 30 January 2015

Today
Increasing cloudiness near noon. 60 percent chance of flurries late this afternoon. High minus 1.

Tonight
Snow. Amount 5 cm. Wind becoming northeast 20 km/h gusting to 40 near midnight. Low minus 13.

Saturday
    Snow ending in the afternoon then mainly cloudy. Amount 2 to 4 cm. Wind northeast 20 km/h gusting to 40 becoming light in the morning. High minus 11.

Sunday
    Sunny. Low minus 20. High minus 10.

Monday
    Cloudy. Low minus 14. High minus 11.

Tuesday
    Sunny. Low minus 26. High minus 13.

Wednesday
    Sunny. Low minus 17. High minus 5.

Thursday

Sunny. Low minus 10. High plus 3.

Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning for the Drumheller area. The alert also covers Three Hills, Hanna, Coronation, and Oyen, and out to Acme. Expect blowing and drifting snow if winds reach the expected 20 km, with 10 to 20 cm of snow expected to fall over Friday and Saturday. Areas to expect heavy snow are:

• Kneehill Co. near Acme and Linden
• Kneehill Co. near Carbon
• Kneehill Co. near Three Hills
• Kneehill Co. near Torrington and Wimborne
• Kneehill Co. near Trochu and Huxley
• Rocky View Co. near Irricana Beiseker and Kathyrn
• S.A. 2 near Finnegan and Little Fish Lake Prov. Park
• Starland Co. near Michichi and Delia
• Starland Co. near Morrin and Munson
• Starland Co. near Rumsey and Rowley
• Town of Drumheller
• Wheatland Co. near Hwys 569 and 848
• Wheatland Co. near Rockyford and Rosebud

Environment Canada notes:

Heavy snow has moved into central Alberta and will continue tonight. The heaviest snowfall is expected to fall along a line from Grande Cache to Red Deer with 10 to 20 cm of snow possible by Saturday morning. Conditions will gradually improve from the northwest on Saturday as the system moves to the southeast.

Be prepared to adjust your driving with changing road conditions. Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow.

Environment Canada meteorologists will update alerts as required. Please continue to monitor your local media or Weatheradio for further updates. If you would like to report severe weather, you can call 1-800-239-0484 or send an email to storm@ec.gc.ca or tweet reports to #ABStorm.

Emma Davis, right, and her principal, Sharon Clark. Emma  began articling at Herman Kloot and Company in December.
inSide photo by Patrick Kolafa
    
    There is a new face at Herman Kloot and Company as Emma Davis has begun her articling at the firm.
    It has been a long and winding road bringing Emma to the valley. She began with the firm as a student at law on December 29.
    “We are very happy to have her,” said Sharon Clark, who is her principal.
    Davis finished her high school in Okotoks, and her post secondary studies took her to St. Francis of Xavier in Nova Scotia for her undergraduate work. She then went to law school at Bond University in Australia where she graduated in October 2013. Despite her globetrotting route to the valley, it is a good fit.
    “The city is good, but not the atmosphere I’m used to,” she said.
    Davis explains that articling is similar to completing a practicum. Over the next year, she will be immersed in the day to day of the firm and have to work in five different areas of law. She will also be completing her Canadian Centre For Professional Legal Education (CPLED) program.
    Herman Kloot and Company is a general practice firm and this fits Davis’ aspirations.
    “You have the opportunity to help more people and small towns are in need of general practitioners,” she said, adding that she is looking forward to learning family law, as her principal specializes in this field.
    Clark says the practical experience Davis will be gaining will go a long way towards learning to think as a lawyer, and encourages her to observe court as much as she can. She says the key attributes to being a strong lawyer is learning how to understand the issues and know where to go to find the answers.
    Clark says that attraction and retention of lawyers is an issue faced by many communities and firms. This, like many other industries, is facing an aging workforce, and it is encouraging to find a new lawyer interested in this type of law.

A mule deer caught in the Handhills has tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

    The province has identified a mule deer caught in the Hand hills with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), the first deer in the area to be confirmed with the disease.
    As former president of the Alberta Fish & Game Association, Drumheller’s Rod Dyck is all too familiar with the spread of CWD in Alberta wildlife, and said the Hand Hills deer is the first case to be found this far west.
    He explains CWD is a prion, which is a small infectious particle composed of abnormally folded protein that attacks the brain of the animals and, causing progressive neurodegenerative conditions in the animals.     
    Mule deer bucks are most likely to test positive for CWD, and the disease is least likely to be found in female white tail deer, according to Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD). The animals can have the disease for four years and not show symptoms, but as soon as they show symptoms of CWD, they die within a few months.
    Dyck said origins of the disease were traced to a U.S. government research facility in Colorado in 1967, and were sheep scrapies, a fatal, degenerative disease that affects the nervous systmes of sheep and goats, transferred to deer and mutated. From there it spread up into Canada, through game farms in Saskatchewan. “Our association has been opposed to game farms for this reason,” said Dyck.
    He adds the University of Saskatchewan and the Univeristy of Michigan are both working on vaccines for CWD.
    The first reported case of CWD in Alberta was 2005, and this past hunting season, 37 positives out of 1800 heads tested brings the total CWD cases in Alberta to 211.
    All it takes is for a wild deer to touch noses with an infected deer in the game farm, Dyck explains, and it spreads from there. It’s taken hold in south-Eastern Alberta, and he said CWD is now considered endemic in Saskatchewan because the disease is found in 50 per cent of the wild deer population.
    The disease is tracked through hunters submitting frozen deer heads to the province for testing.Dyck believes the province had a window in which to get a handle on the disease, but said that time has now passed. “We don’t know if anything else can carry the disease, such as a coyote.” No elk in the wild have tested positive for CWD at this point, said Dyck, but the first moose, killed on the highway near the South Saskatchewan River valley in 2012, is the first such case identified in Canada.
    The CWD hasn’t been shown to spread to people, but ESRD recommends not using the meat of an animal that’s tested positive,and will destroy it for hunters that bring it in to them.
    Dyck notes it’s already been a tough couple years for the area’s deer population, estimating at least a third of Drumheller area mule deer and white tail deer herds have perished because of the harsh winters that made it  unable for the deer to easily feed.

Flushing of water lines and a temporary increase in potassium permanganate have improved town water.

The Town of Drumheller has seen a major improvement in the water quality after taking measures to improve the  foul taste and odour.
    The Town’s Director of Infrastructure Services Allan Kendrick said the number of resident complaints has dwindled.
    “We still might have the odd pocket where its showing up on the hot water only.”
    He said that is probably due to the water sitting in the hot water tank, and also heating the water releases gases.
    Public Works has completed a number of line flushings, Kendrick said, and had to do another line flush in Huntington Hills, one of the areas that still has a pocket of concern.
    Kendrick explained due to its elevation, Huntington Hills has a booster pump to help the water pressure, and the line ends at a closed valve, which is a simulation of a dead-end line.
    In the normal water line systems through Drumheller, the water loops through the system, and the Town can open and close the valves as required. The looping system means the foul water gets flushed through more quickly than a simulated dead-end line, such as the one in Huntington Hills.
    Kendrick said the Town had also increased the level of potassium permanganate, used to treat the Town’s water, up to about 1 millgram per litre (mg/L).

    He said the potassium permanganate has been dropped down to its current .5 mg/L.
    On a regular day for Drumheller water, the level of potassium permanganate is .3 to .4 mg/L, adds Kendrick.
    Another measure the Town is taking is to keep a closer eye on the reservoirs.
    “It’s more aggressive visual  monitoring over at the rural water storage cells.  I think one of the things that was definitely  a contributing factor was  some of our monitoring equipment froze.”
    He said there was also a water crossover chamber that froze, and pumping water with the thick ice layer, sometimes seven feet thick on top, presents other challenges.
    He said the last water complaint received was Tuesday, from a Nacmine resident describing their water as swampy.

One person received minor injuries after a gas blow-back at the Acme Foods store Tuesday.
    Fire Chief Brian Fradgley of Acme Fire and Rescue said his department responded to a call, with the mutual aid of Linden Fire and Rescue, about 12:30 p.m. on February 3.
    The fire chief said the pilot light on the furnace went out, and natural gas built up, causing the blow-back, or very small explosion, when the pilot light was lit.
    Fire rescue turned off the natural gas to the building, and the injured person was transported by Kneehill Medic 2 to Three Hills Hospital for medical care.
    The gas will remain off, Chief Fradgley said, until ATCO Gas can examine the furnace thoroughly and determine the cause of the problem.
    He said there was no damage to the building or contents resulting from the gas blow-back

.

    Coming soon to the Hy-Grade Industrial park - a legal grow-op?
    As area municipalities, including Drumheller, review and overhaul their bylaws, one of the bylaw revisions is proposed land use for licensed medical marijuana facilities.
    Town of Drumheller Community Services Director Paul Salvatore said Drumheller’s by-law proposal would have the commercial facilities situated in medium industrial or restricted industrial districts.
    A Town of Drumheller map shows the bulk of the industrial area off Railway Avenue that makes up the Hy-Grade and Premier industrial parks zoned as medium industrial.
    Drumheller’s Municipal Planning Commission met January 22 to discuss a number of bylaw revisions, including the addition of licensed medical marijuana facilities.
    Salvatore said Palliser Regional Municipal Services conducted a review for the Town of Drumheller on how the zoning was handled in other municipalities,
    The revisions are being prompted in part by inquiries into medical grow-ops throughout different municipalities.
    “In the last few years we’ve had a couple of enquiries, but  this is true for almost every municipality in Alberta,” said Salvatore. He said the inquiries spurred the Town to get a jump on the zoning issue.
    “I think it was just recognizing that because that’s a federally regulated industry, and there was no reference to it in our land use bylaw. That, if we put it in there, if ever there was a situation where someone came to us with that type of thought in mind, then we would at least have thought through and done the planning work to designate where that could be located.”
    Kneehill, Wheatland and Starland counties are all dealing with the possibility of this industry sprouting in each of their areas.
    Wheatland County CAO Alan Parkin said the county amended their bylaw in spring 2014 to provide land use for the licensed medical marijuana facilities. In Wheatland’s case, they’ve designated West Highway 1 Area Structure Plan lands as locations for any facilities. Parkin estimates there are currently well under 20 medical marijuana producers in Wheatland that were licensed under the previous federal legislation allowing for personal production of medical marijuana.
    As of April 1, 2014, Health Canada has not been issuing the medical marijuana growing licenses to individual Canadians. And if someone holding a valid personal growing license moves, their license cannot move with them and becomes invalid.
    Kneehill County Reeve Bob Long said the county received one application for a medical grow-op in late spring/early summer 2014.
    “The application was incomplete from the Federal perspective, so it was turned down.”
    Long said Kneehill is currently amending the land usebylaw, which will include provision for locating the licensed medical marijuana facilities. He said the county’s in early days yet, having just finished a draft of the land use bylaw amendments, which then must goes out for  public consultation. He said he expects the county will have to address the issue.
    Both Long and Salvatore note the stringent requirements of Health Canada, including the high level of security, for those looking to open a commercial licensed medical marijuana facility.
    Reeve Barrie Hoover of Starland County said the county currently doesn’t have any of the facilities.
    He said the county is changing its land use bylaws and the issue is addressed in there, with the Palliser Regional Municipal Services working to finish the bylaw revisions and send them out for public consultation.
    Starland CAO Ross Rawlusyk said under the county’s proposed bylaw, land use for the medical grow-ops would be in a proposed Agricultural Intensive district, but only limited property currently being used for intensive agricultural operations would be zoned in that district.
    Rawlusyk said that makes it likely any new application, such as one for commerical medical marijuana growing, would requiry a pulic hearing to reclassify the appropriate district.
   He adds, to date, Starland County has had no interest in the commercial medical grow-op applications.
   People who had licenses to grow their own medical marijuana as of March 21, 2014 can continue to grow because of a court injunction issued by the Federal Court.
    The injunction was issued pending a constitutional challenge to Health Canada’s decision to eliminate personal medical marijuana growing and force users to get their supply from licensed commercial producers. The matter is still before the courts.
    There are an estimated 40,000 holders of personal medical marijuana production licenses currently in Canada.

February 2 is when four legged prognosticators steal the spotlight as wishes are made for an early spring. Sam Drumheller, Travel Drumheller’s new mascot certainly turned a few heads on Monday when he emerged from his winter hiding place, and The Mail was there. Lucky for residents he wasn’t scared back into his lair by his shadow, signaling an early spring. He was greeted by Chris Curtis of Travel Drumheller and the Krush family visiting the valley. While Sam’s outlook was positive, Sunshine Suzie and Hillview Harold (below) made their annual appearance at their respective lodges but both saw their shadow and scurried back home. Barb Clow, left, managed to meet Hillview Harold and Carol Coffyne, right spent some quality time with Sunshine Suzie.

The Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals  (SPCA) has issued a warrant to the ownership the Reptile World, and is in control of the building for the next three days.
     Roland Lines communications manager for the Alberta SPCA confirmed with The Mail that a search warrant was issued and investigators are on scene today at the private zoo.    
    “Alberta SPCA peace officers are in attendance to address animal welfare concerns at the zoo,” said Lines.  “ Our investigation is about the animals. For something like this, we are required to have a search warrant for our investigations that would give us the three day access.”
The animals have not been seized, but the Alberta SPCA does have that authority.
    “ The Animal Protection Act give us the authority to remove animals from a property if our officers believe the owner is either unable or unwilling to give them the care they require,” Lines explains.
He said the search warrant also allows the Alberta SPCA to bring other individuals onto the premise to assist.
“Obviously this situation is complicated by the fact this zoo specializes in reptiles, which have very particular needs. So we have two specialist veterinarians onsite with us to help assess the medical condition and appropriate treatment of each animal,” said Lines.
Dave Bethel, owner of Reptile World, confirms the officers are on site. The Mail observed three marked vehicles as well as an RCMP cruiser at the property Wednesday morning. He says while the officers have the authority to seize animals, they cannot seize the property.
    “Basically we are shut down,” said Bethel. “ We’ve been here 26 years and they haven’t given me a chance to defend myself, they haven’t told me what the charges are, so it is just a nightmare.”
Bethel says the SPCA has asked them to hand over the animals and the building or at the end of three days the collection will be seized.
Lines said he could not speculate what would happen when the authority of the search warrant expires.

 Molly Douglass, running for PC nomination in Strathmore-Brooks.

    Molly Douglass, Newell County Reeve, has declared she will be seeking the Progressive Conservative nomination in the Strathmore -Brooks riding.
    Last week The Mail reported that former Canadian Taxpayer Federation director Derek Fildebrandt would be seeking the nomination from the Wildrose Party.  The Mail has learned that Douglass, has decided to run for the PC nomination.
    “I have some support from family and friends and people I work with,” she tells The Mail, adding her experience in politics will help her.
    “I am still the Reeve of the County of Newell and I am in my 11th year. I enjoyed that world and I think these are important jobs. I understand municipal roles and provincial roles being involved, so I thought I can contribute.”
    While MLA for Strathmore -Brooks Jason Hale has not yet declared whether he will be letting his name stand, Douglass is the first to challenge the nomination.
    The riding of Strathmore-Brooks has seen a shift in party politics over the last couple of months. President for the Strathmore-Brooks PC Constituency Association, Karen Bartsch, says they have not yet opened nominations, but they are looking at the process being underway mid February. She says the high profile entry of Fildebrandt doesn’t affect their process.
    “I personally think it would be difficult for him to truly represent the constituents of our riding when he knows nothing about our concerns or issues - which is an MLA’s job first and foremost,” she said.
    Douglass said she is taking the process one step at a time.
    “I can only control what I decide to do, I’m taking it a step at a time because it is a process,” she said. “The nomination is first and then whoever is running for the other parties. It sounds like someone is already announced for the Wildrose Party. Things change rapidly it appears.”
    Douglass says voters will have their work cut out for them.
    “It has been an emotional time for a lot of people because of the floor crossing and how that will turn into come election time no one knows for sure,” she said.     

Drumheller's DinoFest will not be running this year, but the Drumheller Festival Society is eyeing 2016 for DinoFest's return.

Drumheller’s DinoFest will not be returning in 2015, confirms Drumheller Festival Association President Ryan Semchuk.
    “We’ve had a great amount of support from the community, both with sponsorships and volunteers. But moving into this year, the problem is it’s not a sustainable model, the way it’s set up.”
    Semchuk said it was a tough decision for the board to make, but they felt it was better to look at options to generate revenue during the next DinoFest. The Festival Society is eyeing 2016 to hold the next DinoFest.
    The cost to hold DinoFest Semchuk estimates at $25,000 per year, in addition to the in-kin donations, and DinoFest didn’t receive any grant funding this year as they had in the previous years.
    The last DinoFest free community festival was held in June 2014 at the foot of the World’s Largest Dinosaur,
    An estimated 2,700 people attended the 2014 DinoFest.

Two Morrin high school curling teams are heading to zones later this month. Morrin School hosted the Rangeland High School Curling Playoffs at the Rumsey Agriplex February 5.
    The Morrin girls team won the best of three games with the rink from Oyen. Skip Katie Primrose, Third Amy Adams, Second Shelby Primrose, and Lead Jessica Wolf will head to the zones with coach Betty Primrose.
    The Morrin mixed rink won both their games in round robin play, one each with Youngstown and Oyen, to advance to the zone playoffs.
    The Morrin mixed team is players Skip Evan Hampton, Third Caitlin Wolf, Second Lowell Nelson, Lead Jorden Ferguson, and coach Melanie Nelson.
    The Morrin and Oyen boys teams played a best of 3, which saw Oyen win the first game and Morrin win the second.
    “Game 3 was a nail biter that went into an extra end, because Morrin scored 4 points to tie the game 9-9 in the 8th end. In the 9th end, Oyen had to throw their last rock and make a take out to win the game. Oyen won,” explains Melanie Nelson.
    The Oyen team is Skip Hunter Didychuk, Third Tristen Peers, Second Lucas Ramos-Strankman, Lead Jordan Spath, and coach Tenelle Brost,
    High school curling zones are scheduled for February 25 and 26 in Airdrie.

    TELUS has committed to bringing fibre optic connections to the valley and they are posed to begin this spring.
 Senior Vice President of Broadband Networks for TELUS Tony Geheran and representatives of the company were at Drumheller Town Hall Thursday afternoon to make the announcement. The project, worth $7.5 million will bring fibre optic connections to 3,600 residences and businesses. This will allow for the most modern and reliable telephone, Internet and Optik television connections.
    “With the support of the Town, which has been very progressive in making the investment work for us, we are launching our new fibre network in Drumheller,” said Geheran. “We aim to start the build in April and conclude in October.”
    He said TELUS has been working with the municipality for about a year to bring this investment to town.
    “Basically we are overlaying and upgrading all the facilities in the town. The optical equipment is being installed in the central office and from there, the optic fiber will feed out and is accessed by 10 distribution hubs into each neighbourhood.”
    The network will cover a defined boundary which includes Nacmine and stretches east to the Willow Estates. The initial build does not include Rosedale and communities east.
    Geheran explains the initial connections will have speeds of 100 Mbps, and as each build area is complete, they will go live.
    To complete the build he anticipates 60-70 workers on the ground through the peak. These will be TELUS teams as well as partner crews. When the build is complete, there will be an expansion of its workforce in the local office.
    “We will be increasing local team size. What we have found where we have done this already, we have a very satisfactory outcome in terms of new customers and it tends to be more work for the local team, which means more people,” he said.
    “With the physical build itself, and the crews we bring in, it drives a small economic boom for a period.”
    He adds there are other benefits including TELUS Health Solutions which could allow residents to remain in their home longer.
    There are also lasting economic benefits.
    “What we have found as we’ve  been looking at the smaller communities is there are some beautiful places you could live, and would want to live, but you can’t because you can’t work the way you like, this removes one of those barriers. When you are looking to attract inward population growth, the network is a key factor as to where people want to live,” said Geheran.
    Mayor Terry Yemen is very excited to have the service come.
    “We have identified connectivity as one of our priorities, but as a council we have struggled with how we could do it with that type of investment of over $7 million. This has taken care of that for us… It’s a real win for the Town of Drumheller,” he said.

Shown is teacher Stephanie Koller’s Grade 4 science student inventors, who  faced off in the Greentree School version of Dragons Den Thursday, February 5. The event was a wind-up for their science unit on wheels and levers. Students were challenged to create an invention, or improve upon an existing machine. The winning project gets a trip to Dairy Queen with Mrs. Koller, plus $100 donated by one of the Greentree School Dragons. Seated in the back row are “Dragons”, local judges (l-r) Constable Craig Nelson, Mrs. Cindy Gerodo, Mr. Bob Brown,  Mr. Bob Sheddy, and Mrs. Koller (standing).

Since the introduction of Alberta’s .05 maximum for drinking drivers, the province has seen a rise in the increase of driver impairment from other causes.
    “Lots of people don’t want to drink and get behind the wheel, because they know that’s what we’re testing for these days,” said Drumheller RCMP Constable Lucas Stewart, “but they have no problem having a drug of choice, and getting in and going for a drive.”
    Stewart has served in Drumheller about three and-a-half years, and has been a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) during that time. He is one of at least 60 such DREs in different agencies across Alberta.  In this area of police work, he has noticed drivers having difficulty because of incorrect use of their prescriptions.
    “A lot of people think prescription medication, if it’s prescribed by a doctor, it’s safe to take and drive. That’s okay as long as you’re following your doctor’s directions, but a lot of people don’t. Whether that’s taking too much, or not enough and doubling up the next day.”
    He said people often don’t realize there’s a problem with their prescription medication until it’s brought to their attention, often through a driving complaint and subsequent RCMP drug testing.
    “Whether you meant to or not, you should know that you shouldn’t be behind the wheel if you’re not feeling 100 per cent,” said Stewart.
    Police are also concerned with  young people taking their parents prescriptions, which happens here occasionally, but Stewart said the problem is more commonly found in larger centres. He said the RCMP urge parents to keep their prescriptions locked up or out of reach of their children, because often kids don’t realize the dangers of taking someone else’s medication.
    “It’s really very sad when you’ve got a 16 or 17 year-old driver that’s just run somebody over on the highway because they didn’t realize what these drugs were going to do to them.”
    He also said impaired drivers suffering from a lack of sleep and fighting to stay awake happens way too often. He said it’s hard to get accurate numbers, because often drivers won’t admit they fell asleep behind the wheel.
    “At some point, someone gets in a situation where they shouldn’t be behind the wheel and they know it. Lots of people fight it - that’s usually a mistake.” Drivers can often fall asleep for a split-second and not realize it, said Stewart, especially on longer trips, and that’s often all it takes for disaster.
    And Stewart said different street drugs impair drivers in difffrent ways. Methamphetamines and cocaine are considered uppers, making drivers hyperactive, and could make people drive aggressively.
    On the other end of the scale, he notes narcotics, such as morphine and heroine, and also methadone - used to help people addicted to opioid drugs such as OxyContin,  Dilaudid, heroin -  are considered downers, and can almost put people to sleep.
    He said RCMP members have arrested drivers after complaints of vehicles going 15 kilometres an hour on the highway. If a driver fails a roadside impairment check, testing of suspected drug impaired drivers at the RCMP detachment shows Stewart the effect of the drug on the person, giving him indications of what type of drug he should be looking for.
    “It (impairment) comes in any shape or form -  we have to be trained and know to look for just about everything.”