B.C. WARNED OF METH INVASION

Limit Sale Of Drug Ingredients Or Face Influx Of U.S. Criminals, N.D.
Official Says

REGINA -- B.C. faces a flood of U.S. criminals hungry for products
that can be used to make crystal meth -- unless it matches tough
restrictions on sales of the ingredients being adopted by U.S. states.

That was the stern warning at a special summit of Canada's western
provinces and territories Friday. The gathering's aim was to draw a
joint plan for dealing with the highly addictive drug.

The message itself came from North Dakota's attorney-general,
Republican Wayne Stenehjem, who made a forceful case about the damage
done by the drug in his state of 600,000 people -- creating what he
called the most serious law-enforcement problem in the state's history.

Stenehjem detailed efforts that several U.S. states have made to
restrict access to products available over the counter that can be
used to manufacture meth.

"I have a fear that unless [similar] restrictions here in the western
provinces are passed," he said, "we will be exporting a product you
don't want very much -- and that is . . . people who want to buy cold
medicine and bring it back to the States, or even worse, people who
will come up here to set up their meth-cooking operations.

"You don't want that."

In North Dakota, which has doubled its prison budget to $129 million
US in seven years, 60 per cent of male inmates are crystal-meth
addicts, Stenehjem said.

For two years, North Dakota has imposed tough controls on the sale of
cold medicines containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, ingredients
used to make crystal meth. It has also banned sale of the products to
minors, limited single purchases to two packets and ordered stores to
keep a log of who buys them. Government identification must be shown
to make a purchase.

Washington State is debating similar measures. B.C. Solicitor-General
Rich Coleman has said B.C. is considering doing so, too.

Ottawa is moving towards tougher licensing of the chemical ingredients
used to make both crystal meth and gamma hydroxybutyrate, a "date rape"
drug.

Yesterday, provincial officials set an Oct. 1 deadline for provinces
to assemble the information they will need to limit access to products
in a way similar to that described by Stenehjem.

They also called on Ottawa to toughen laws on meth so that longer
sentences would be imposed on those who possess or deal the drug.

Federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh told The Province this week that
he will launch a review that could see meth moved into a
classification under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that
would allow for tougher sentences.

Ingredients Easy To Come By

These are some of the easy-to-purchase ingredients the government
would have to restrict access to if crystal-meth labs are to be curtailed:

- - acetone

- - lye

- - methyl hydrate

- - camp fuel

- - muriatic acid

- - any cold medicine containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine