SASKATOON TEEN'S HOST FAMILY RAIDED BY RCMP

SASKATOON -- A Saskatoon teenager on a student exchange in Quebec got more
than he bargained for when the host family's house was raided as part of a
massive U.S.-led bust against online trafficking of the "date-rape" drug.

As a result of the incident, the chairman of the public school board plans
to review the division's policies regarding student exchanges and
background checks of host families.

The boy, a student from Marion Graham Collegiate, was staying with a family
in the St-Etienne-de-Lauzon region, near Quebec City. He was wakened at
6:30 a.m. on Wednesday by Quebec City RCMP acting on a tip from the Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA) in the U.S.

They knocked and rushed in with a search warrant, claiming a computer at
the home was used to make transactions involving GHB (gamma-hydroxybutrate).

GHB is a mixture of common industrial chemicals that the U.S. Congress has
outlawed. The drug and its derivatives GBL and 1,4 BD (butanediol, a GHB
chemical cousin that turns to GHB in the body) act as central nervous
system depressants and cause drowsiness, dizziness, nausea and loss of
inhibition.

Butanediol is used as an industrial solvent and is also included in
supplements sold under names such as Thunder Nectar, InnerG and Zen.
Butanediol is used to make polyurethane, Spandex, moisturizers and legal drugs.

It is still legal in Canada, though it has been implicated in at least one
death and a number of date rapes in this country. In the U.S. 72 deaths
from the drug and its derivatives have been documented.

"He had no idea that anything was happening in the home before this
happened. Absolutely nothing," the Saskatoon boy's mother said in an interview.

The family did not want his name -- or theirs -- used in the story over
concerns someone's safety would be jeopardized.

"He's safe and we're safe and that's all that matters to us," said the
mother. "I just want to make it stay that way."

According to the boy's father, who has had extensive discussions with the
RCMP since the incident, the police ensured the children in the home were
treated with care and even dropped them at school before the search of the
home was undertaken.

"He was never in any danger," the mother added. "It wasn't that they found
a house full of drugs. There was nothing in the home."

"To the best of our knowledge, none of the transgressions were taking place
out of the home. They were in a warehouse in another area of the city,"
said the father.

The woman who lived at the home and her estranged husband, who no longer
resided there but kept in contact, were both arrested. She was later
released, according to Quebec City RCMP, but the man -- Daniel Pelchat ---
is being held in Montreal, pending an extradition hearing to face charges
in the U.S.

RCMP have called the man the date-rape kingpin, alleging he is a leader in
a huge Canada-U.S. ring that made and shipped GBL around the world. The
ring sold kits for $280 to convert GBL into GHB. Pelchat's operation was
getting 160 orders a day.

The arrest of Pelchat and two other people near Quebec City was part of a
sweep that included 115 dealers in 84 cities last week. Pelchat was
indicted Thursday in Buffalo, N.Y., on many counts of importing and
distributing GBL. U.S. attorney James Kennedy has called Pelchat one of the
biggest GHB providers in the world.

The incident has not shaken the Saskatoon family's faith in the student
exchange program operated by the public school board.

"We are confident in the checks that were done by the host school. They
interviewed the family -- an exhaustive interview for about two hours in
their home," said the father. "We have also talked to the RCMP (in Quebec
City) and these had no prior (criminal) records, so a police check would
not have picked anything up."

He said a Saskatoon teacher, who also made the excursion for the exchange
(but is residing at another house) also met with the boy's host family and
found them quite nice.

"He was always treated well in the home and very much liked the mom and the
other children in the family. That's all that we could ask for -- that he
was treated well," said the boy's mother. The best way to describe the
situation is that everything came together at the wrong time, she said.

"It's one of those fluke chances," added the father. "But we are still 100
per cent behind the exchange program. We realize the advantages that it
gives a person from Canada to be bilingual. This fluke incident shouldn't
reflect negatively on the program."

The boy remains on the exchange, staying at the same home as his Saskatoon
teacher until a new host family can be found. Still, public school board
chairman Gordon Wyant wants a review of policies "to ensure they adequately
protect our kids. Having said that, we've always been comfortable for what
they are.

"This kind of a thing wouldn't have been caught through any conventional
search. But we're always concerned about the safety of these kids, whether
they're on an exchange or in our schools, so we will look into what more we
might do."

The day following the drug busts, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft
announced the bust, called Operation Web Slinger, encompassed
investigations in St. Louis; Detroit and San Diego, Calif.; Mobile, Ala.
and Sparta, Tenn.; Buffalo, N.Y. and Quebec City.