PROPOSED PROGRAM MEANT TO HELP RETAILERS SPOT METH-COOKS

Saskatchewan stores should adopt a program that helps retailers spot
crystal methamphetamine manufacturers, say two Saskatchewan Party MLAs.

Opposition MLAs Brenda Bakken and June Draude met Tuesday with two groups
representing retailers and health product manufacturers.

The Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores (CACDS) and NDMAC, a national
association representing manufacturers, marketers and distributors of
health products, have helped develop the Meth Watch Program.

The program's primary goal is to educate store managers and employees that
ingredients in legal products such as cough and cold medicines can be
converted into methamphetamines. Through education, the program would help
retailers spot suspicious purchases, which they would in turn report to the
police.

As police crack down on large scale meth distributors, the retail sector
will be targeted for the needed ingredients, said NDMAC director Robert White.

"The RCMP has told us that up until now, most of the methamphetamine is
being used from bulk amounts of chemicals. However, they feel that as the
illegal supply is cut-off, the meth-cooks may start to look for these
ingredients in other spots, and the most logical spot would be retail," he
said.

The MLAs are concerned that meth is easily produced once the ingredients
are obtained and with Saskatchewan's wide open spaces meth labs are hard to
find.

"I'm scared of what could happen in Saskatchewan," said Draude after the
meeting. "We have a lot of communities that aren't well populated and
Saskatchewan is situated in a place where it could be a distribution point
for the drug across east and Western Canada."

The initiative is similiar to one suggested to pharmacists last year. They
were asked to voluntarily place medications with psuedoephedrine behind the
counter if they suspected the products were being used for crystal meth
production, said Ray Joubert, registrar of the Saskatchewan College of
Pharmacists.

"Most pharmacists are monitoring sales very carefully," he said Tuesday in
a telephone interview.

More information on the Meth Watch Program can be found at www.methwatch.com.