METH LAB TASK FORCE IN WORKS

Multi-Agency Squad Similar To Gang Unit

The province is in talks with several law enforcement agencies to form a
multi-agency task force charged with tracking and dismantling clandestine
methamphetamine labs, the Herald has learned.

The unit will be similar in style to the $3.5-million organized crime task
force announced late last month by the provincial solicitor general's office.

"We are right at the informal stages of (discussion)," said Solicitor
General Heather Forsyth. "We'll keep the dialogue going."

Forsyth -- who was lobbied by law enforcement officials for the task force
earlier this year -- has begun to assemble a panel of government officials
from the ministries of health, agriculture, children's services and
environment to discuss the unit's potential.

She will also attend a conference on clandestine laboratories being hosted
by the Calgary police drug unit next month.

Investigators from around the world are expected to gather here to swap
their experiences with the potent drug -- tagged by Alberta's police
community as a major concern.

"This is seriously dangerous stuff and we have to do something about it,"
said Calgary police Det. Pat Tetley, an expert in the illegal drug trade.

"Conversations have gone on between police forces and the consensus would
be that the task force is the best way to deal with this."

Tetley said drug unit officers from Calgary, Edmonton, Camrose, Lethbridge,
Red Deer, Medicine Hat and the RCMP, among others, will likely be included
in the task force.

Tetley has been investigating the hazards of meth labs and addiction to the
drug since 1994.

He believes a highly trained "clan lab" team is the only way law
enforcement officers can go up against manufacturers of the illicit drug
and win the battles.

"If you get into organized crime, you're going to get into clan labs," he
said of the investigations. "You have to be able to mobilize a team on
short notice. That's the only way."

Like crack cocaine, which affects users within minutes, methamphetamine
produces a quick chemical high, but it lasts much longer.

Just one gram of the drug will provide an eight-to 12-hour high.

Although Calgary has infiltrated only a handful of meth labs since 1995 --
northern Alberta has had its fair share of busts -- Tetley said it's only a
matter of time before the substance hits the city with a vengeance.

Fort McMurray is also a hot spot for methamphetamine.

In May 2000, Calgary drug unit officers stormed a home in the southeast
Riverbend neighbourhood and found a meth lab capable of producing $7,000
worth of product every day.

The potentially highly explosive laboratory was dismantled by investigators
and a man "babysitting" the operation was arrested. The man's skin was a
pale shade of grey -- saturated by the chemicals used to cook meth.

"I think people have to appreciate the fact that this is a cheap drug to
obtain and is highly addictive," said Forsyth. "And (we've) got everything
right from mom-and-pop labs to the big ones."

No deadline or dollar amount has been attached to the task force.