POLICE LAUD TOUGHER SENTENCES FOR METH

Want Power To Seize Labs, Drug-Making Materials

EDMONTON - Local criminal justice officials are applauding a federal
move to raise the maximum penalty for selling and producing
methamphetamines to life imprisonment.

The proposal is a good first step, but more aggressive legislation
designed to control production of the deadly, highly addictive drug is
still needed, experts said Thursday.

"I'm glad to see the federal government has responded quite quickly,"
said Edmonton police acting Staff Sgt. Darcy Strang.

"I spend a lot of time in court and I'm seeing the meth problem being
taken more seriously, but appropriate sentences are really only a part
of the solution."

Strang, head of the Meth Projects Team, said the key is enabling
police to seize chemicals used to make meth and charge people
possessing the tools and parts but not the finished product.

"We need legislation with some teeth in it," he said.

"We can discover a lab in the making or a lab that recently produced
meth, but unless the product is found, there is little we can do about
it. If we have the power to control the chemicals, we can stop
production of the drug."

The current maximum penalty for selling or making the drug is 10 years
in prison.

The use of methamphetamine, also called meth or crystal meth, has
spread across the country over the past eight years. It is cheap, easy
to find and can be snorted, smoked, injected or swallowed. Users often
ingest large quantities over several days or even weeks.

"(The changes) will help kids stay away from it, and show those who
are trafficking in this type of deadly drug that there will be tough
prison sentences," said Solicitor General Harvey Cenaiko.

Crystal meth is made in small clandestine labs by mixing a cocktail of
otherwise-legal chemicals.

The main ingredient is pseudoephedrine, found in cold remedies. It is
cooked with material easily purchased from hardware stores, such as
red phosphorous, iodine, ammonia, paint thinner and lithium from batteries.

Dr. Ern Gibbs-Van Brunschot, a University of Calgary criminology
professor, said the federal government initiative is unlikely to shut
down labs or stop traffickers.

"I think that the impact will be pretty low, deterrence-wise," she
said.

"There are many people who are just going to do it anyway, who don't
think about getting caught. There may be some individual deterrence,
but general deterrence will likely be negligible."

The public would be wrong to think meth dealers are now likely to get
life in prison, she said. Few heroin or cocaine dealers are treated
that harshly.

"No one is likely to get a life sentence, but it will probably move
the sentencing range up a bit."

Annette Bidniak, a spokesperson for the Alberta Solicitor General's
office, said "Let's see what actually happens. The maximum penalty for
break and enter is also life imprisonment, and I've never head of
anyone receiving anything like life for that."