DRUG INGREDIENTS ARE AS CLOSE AS YOUR LOCAL STORE

Gaps In Canada's Regulations Are Easily Exploited, RCMP Say

What you need to start making crystal methamphetamine is as close as your
nearest hardware store.

On a mid-March shopping trip, The Province spent just $100.58, including
taxes and environmental fees, to acquire the raw materials.

Staff at the Wal-Mart in North Vancouver didn't raise an eyebrow while
ringing up containers of acetone, Extra Strength Sudafed, methyl hydrate
and Coleman camp fuel.

Same story at Rona, where we stocked up on two other key ingredients,
muriatic acid and lye.

The purpose of the expedition was to demonstrate how easy it is to buy
these ingredients, a fact of which police and anti-drug activists are all
too aware.

Although steps have been taken in the U.S. to limit the availability of
these materials, Canada appears to be taking a different approach --
despite the fact that communities in B.C. riven by meth addiction want
action taken.

In March, Maple Ridge became the first community in Canada to set up a
program called Meth Watch. Its goal is to teach retailers to be on the
lookout for people buying the raw materials.

Volunteers distribute educational materials to employees and managers of 70
businesses in the Fraser Valley suburb. Posters have gone up in store
windows; employees are advised what to watch for. Stickers are placed on
shelves where the chemicals and related paraphernalia are displayed. Any
employee who suspects illegal activity can call an RCMP hotline.

That way, says Meth Watch national spokesman Gerry Harrington, police can
track hot spots and better monitor the ebb and flow of the meth trade.

"It sends a signal. It sends a signal to the addicts themselves. We know
who you are, we know what you're doing and we don't want you in the store,"
Harrington said.

A similar program is in place in at least 17 states in the U.S..

"Anywhere west of the Mississippi, [meth] is an issue," Harrington says.
Anecdotal evidence from the U.S. suggests Meth Watch can cut back on the
street-level availability of the drug by as much as 25 per cent.

Meth Watch will soon be rolled out in drug and retail stores across Canada,
with all employees taking a 20-minute online training session.

Canadian federal regulations, enacted in 2003, require only that companies
that manufacture, import, export or distribute precursor chemicals, such as
ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, be licensed.

While he's reluctant to criticize Health Canada's 2003 rules, Sgt. Mike
Harding of the RCMP's clandestine-lab team notes that there are easily
exploited gaps in the regulations.

Anyone with a good record (clean at least for 10 years) can apply for, and
most likely get, a licence to possess the precursors. An import licence is
virtually guaranteed at that point, as long as you can prove there are two
other people in your organization with clean records who are also
responsible for the product. Health Canada also needs to be satisfied that
security at the storage facility is adequate.

After those hoops are cleared, a licence holder can import and sell
precursors to other licence holders. They can also sell to non-licence
holders as long as those individuals promise they are the end users and
fill out a purchase document.

"That document," Harding says, "goes nowhere."

The information is not passed on to officials at Health Canada, nor is it
available to police -- except by warrant. The implication is that anyone
could use fake ID and false information on the form and walk away with bulk
chemicals.

The holes in the law are compounded by traditional smuggling operations and
companies that simply choose to ignore the rules.

"There are diversions. There's little doubt about that," Harding says.

As things stand, there's a powerful economic incentive -- and precious
little risk -- for people wanting to cook up crystal meth.