FEDS UNVEIL CRACKDOWN ON CRYSTAL

Penalties Stiffened For Producers, Dealers Of Dangerous Street
Drug

OTTAWA -- The federal government will announce today it is increasing
the maximum jail term for production, trafficking, importing or
exporting methamphetamine -- commonly known as crystal meth -- to life
in prison, from 10 years.

The federal crackdown, which puts crystal meth on the same legal level
as cocaine and heroin, comes as provincial premiers gather in Banff,
Alta., for their annual conference. It will include discussion about
the growing popularity of the inexpensive and easily accessed drug.

Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler and
Public Security Minister Anne McLellan will make the announcement today.

Dosanjh, whose department administers the Controlled Drug and
Substances Act, announced in June that he was seeking recommendations
from senior government officials by this autumn on whether Ottawa
should stiffen penalties for crystal meth producers and traffickers.
But Dosanjh is expected to say today that immediate action is
justified because clear evidence has emerged about the growing harm
caused by meth users, particularly in Western Canada.

The federal government also revealed in June its intention to add four
chemicals now used to make crystal meth to the government's Precursor
Control Regulations. When the regulations go into effect later this
year, those involved in the production or distribution of those
chemicals will be subjected to licence and permit requirements.

Conviction for possession of these "precursor" chemicals for the
purpose of making an illegal drug such as crystal meth will result in
a fine of up to $5,000, a jail term of up to three years, or both.

Crystal meth is a synthetic drug that can be snorted, smoked,
injected, or swallowed, and can cost a user only $5 a day. That
information is in a report assembled from presentations at a Vancouver
meeting late last year attended by a variety of groups worried about
crystal meth.

The drug causes a sense of "euphoria, openness and intellectual
expansion," and its effects can last up to 24 hours. It can also
trigger nervousness and depression and is believed to lead to violent
behaviour in some circumstances.

The report concluded meth use is rising and its popularity is
gradually extending from Western Canada eastward.

Use of crystal meth in Greater Victoria has soared in the last five
years and police are linking the drug to crimes such as
break-and-enters and drug trafficking.

There are no accurate estimates of the number of users on southern
Vancouver Island, but more than 200 anxious parents and service
providers attended an information meeting held in June by the Crystal
Meth Victoria Society.

Victoria Youth Empowerment Society figures show that 11 per cent of
young people admitted to the Victoria Youth Detox Centre in 2000-01
said crystal meth was their drug of choice. That number had
skyrocketed to 61 per cent by 2003-04.