METH REPORT RELEASED

After close to a year of crisscrossing the province and meeting with
community leaders, law enforcement, health care providers and drug
users, the Premier's Task Force on Crystal Meth released its final
report last week.

The task force was chaired by Colleen Klein, the wife of Premier
Ralph Klein, and Dr. Bob Westbury. Among the task force's 11 other
members was Drayton Valley Mayor Diana McQueen. The report contains a
total of 83 recommendations covering a wide range of issues, all
targetted to fight the spread of the drug in Alberta.

Methamphetamine is a cheap and highly addictive drug which has become
increasingly widespread in Western Canada over the last few years.
The drug is relatively cheap to produce and has become particularly
popular among young people. However, meth can have a serious impact
on a user's physical and mental health.

"What we really learned is that the effects of meth compared even to
some other drugs is really quite devastating," said McQueen in an
interview last week.

The report's recommendations are divided into six broad categories
which include taking a province-wide approach to the problem, healing
and treatment, supporting Aboriginal communities and improving
services and assessing results. However the bulk of the
recommendations focus on preventing people from using the drug in the
first place and on getting tough with users and dealers.

"With the help of community leaders across the province, the task
force's recommendations will stop the abuse and negative impacts of
crystal meth on our communities, workplaces, families and young
people," said Klein in a statement to the media. "We can and must
work collectively to fight against the damage of this drug."

Among the report's recommendations are the creation of 300 more detox
and treatment beds across the province, more flexible privacy laws to
allow doctors and treatment facilities to share patient information
and the immediate creation of a fund to help reduce meth use among
youth. The report also calls for tougher penalties for meth-related
crimes and the creation of more specialized police units to combat
the spread of the drug.

"The report is the first step," said McQueen. "The second step is
implementation. This issue is so important across the province that
regardless of who the next leader is they're going to have to get
behind the report and work with the recommendations."

The full report is available on the Government of Alberta website at gov.ab.ca.