THOUSANDS OF DRUG BUSTS UP IN SMOKE?

Former Lab Worker's Methods Were Faulty

Thousands of Ontarians found guilty of drug-related crimes since 1988 may
be able to challenge their convictions because of botched tests at a
Toronto lab.

At least 205 drug sample certificates -- used as evidence in criminal drug
trials -- issued by a single analyst at the Health Canada lab are faulty,
the federal department has found.

But thousands of certificates signed by the employee before 1996 for hard
drugs like cocaine and heroin, and cannabis certificates issued before
1991, can't be verified because of missing data or destroyed evidence.

Anyone convicted of a drug offence involving the certificates may have the
right to appeal, ask for a new trial, apply for a pardon, get fine money
back and even ask to be released from custody, depending on circumstances,
Canada's justice department announced yesterday.

Those circumstances, detailed in a report by retired judge W. David
Griffiths, include whether or not a person pleaded guilty at trial and how
important the certificate was to securing the conviction. In total, the
unnamed analyst, who has since left her job, issued 16,988 certificates.

The botched tests, discovered when the employee went on holiday in March,
involve misidentified exhibits, labeling errors and faulty test procedures.

Shocking

"It's shocking that there could be any number of people incarcerated as a
result of allegedly false testing," said Toronto defence lawyer John
Struthers, who called for the immediate release from custody of anyone
wrongfully convicted.

"Everybody involved in the administration of justice is shocked this
occurred," said lawyer Frank Addario. "There was an assumption that the
integrity of these certificates was beyond question."

The justice department has tracked more than 100 cases that involve the
faulty certificates, but the process is a bureaucratic nightmare. The
certificates are numbered but don't identify the case or the name of the
accused. There's no database to match them.

Health Canada has hired an outside forensic expert to review its six drug
labs across the country.