CRYSTAL METH CONFERENCE GOES NATIONAL

REGINA -- A planned western Canadian clinical conference on crystal meth
abuse has expanded to become a national meeting that will be hosted by
Saskatchewan, provincial and territorial leaders announced Friday.

The fight against the highly addictive and dangerous drug was at the top of
Premier Lorne Calvert's agenda going in to the Council of the Federation
meeting in Banff.

The clinical conference was one of a series of announcements about crystal
meth coming from the Alberta meeting. Calvert was obviously pleased when he
spoke to reporters in a conference call after the premiers' meeting wrapped
up in the afternoon.

"It will seek to bring together expertise. I think we're all searching for
the most effective treatments, the most effective vehicles of prevention.
There isn't a large body of scientific research. There is some. If we can
bring together the knowledgeable so that as we each set out to develop
prevention and treatment strategies, we're learning from each other and not
reinventing the wheel," he said.

Premiers also committed to a national awareness campaign on crystal meth
specifically and substance abuse generally. And there was agreement to
consider a national strategy of cracking down on the sale of the cold
medicine that is used as an ingredient in crystal meth.

Western Canadian governments meeting in Regina in June committed to a
western clinical conference on best practices of treatment and prevention
of crystal meth abuse. They also agreed to come up with a joint plan to
restrict cold medicine containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine.

Calvert said Friday's agreement marked an expansion of what had come out of
the earlier meeting.

"I am very pleased that premiers who perhaps came to this meeting not
sensing a significant issue in their provinces in this time recognize now
that the experience in the United States, the experience that we're seeing
in Western Canada, means that we have an opportunity to take preventative
action now that may well prevent this crystal meth from becoming a national
epidemic," he said.

A Health Department official said the government had begun organization
work for the western conference and should be able to make it a national
meeting without too much difficulty.

It will likely be held in Regina, although that has not been confirmed yet.
A date has also not been set, but the official said it would be sometime
between October and March.