LAW TARGETS DRUG-MAKING PARENTS

They Face Fines And Jail Time If Their Children Are Living In Meth
Labs And Grow-Ops

CALGARY - Police in Alberta will be able today to charge unfit parents
with exposing their children to drugs under a new law that is the
first of its kind in Canada.

Under the Drug Endangered Children Act, officers can seize and hold
for two days children found living where drugs are being sold or
produced, such as methamphetamine labs and indoor marijuana grow operations.

Police also have the power to charge the family members who put the
children in harm's way.

"It gives us another tool in our belt to penalize people," said Staff
Sgt. Monty Sparrow of the Calgary police drug unit.

Children's Services Minister Heather Forsyth, who spearheaded the law,
said officers across the province are seizing children every day from
homes where adults are cooking, growing and producing illegal drugs.

"The law is clear and concise and makes it clear that children who are
involved in these situations are abused," Forsyth said.

"It recognizes that these children are victims and need
protection."

Last week, three Calgary children were found to be living in a
marijuana grow-op.

Police said the basement of the home had been converted into a
157-plant grow-op with fumes being vented through the closet of the
upstairs master bedroom into the attic.

A crib where the youngest slept was less than a metre from the closet,
said Sparrow. Several chemicals were also found in the home.

The discovery, he added, is a "perfect example" of why the new
legislation is necessary.

Sparrow said the service's biggest concern is in homes with grow-ops,
where cocaine is being cooked to make crack-cocaine and where weed oil
is being produced.

Children exposed to toxins from these processes are found to suffer
from medical problems such as chronic respiratory illnesses and
neurological damage.

Staff Sgt. Jim Rorison of the police department's child-abuse unit
said officers in Calgary have already received training on enacting
the new law.

The charge -- willfully causing a child to be a drug-endangered child
- -- carries a maximum fine of $25,000 or 24 months in jail.

Forsyth modelled the legislation after several similar laws in the
United States.