CRYSTAL METH 'SUPER LABS' A THREAT TO COMMUNITIES

Peel Regional Police believe a crystal meth "super lab" started a
Mississauga house fire last weekend that killed one man and left
another clinging to life. And, there are more large, illegal drug labs
in Mississauga just like it, according to a national expert.

Officers with the Peel police Morality Bureau and Mississauga fire
officials were still removing toxic chemicals and other property from
the Mariner Crt. home yesterday. It took investigators two days to get
into the area home, as levels of potentially-deadly chemicals remained
high until Wednesday morning.

Furthermore, residents of 18 area homes were evacuated this week as a
precaution.

Police also called in Team-1 Emergency Services, a Hamilton-based
chemical disposal firm that has dismantled more than 100 meth labs.

The lab was discovered last Sunday night after an explosion and fire
in the home sent two men, 33-year-old Jason White, who lived there,
and Rino Fazio, 45, running for their lives onto the street. White
later died from his injuries. Fazio remains in critical condition at
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

Mississauga firefighters who responded to the blaze contacted police
when they discovered a "clandestine drug laboratory."

The meth lab is the largest Team-1 has dealt with, according to Peel
police.

Peel Det. Dan Valleau said the lab covered the main floor and basement
of the home. "It qualifies as a super lab," he said.

Meth labs are new to Peel police, and this is the first discovered in
Mississauga.

However, Mark McLaughlin, president of the Crystal Meth Victoria
Society, said there are likely more here.

"I would think that would be a reasonable assumption," he said in an
interview yesterday. "The movement of this product from the west is
well underway and the sad part is we don't notice them unless we get a
big explosion, big fire, or dead people."

Valleau said there's no indication the Mariner Crt. lab signals a
trend. "I'm hoping we're not going to be seeing them more in
residential areas," he said. "That would be a scary
proposition."

McLaughlin said these types of labs are extremely dangerous, to both
the producers and neighbours.

"These are not university-graduate chemists producing the drug. These
are people who are probably stoned themselves trying to cook up meth
using products under the kitchen sink," he said.

There is a huge market for meth because, "for cheaper than the price
of a movie ticket, you get a 10-to-14-hour intoxication," he added.

Methamphetamine, also known as speed, meth, crystal meth and chalk, is
produced by cooking a mixture of more than a dozen dangerous
chemicals. The process produces unstable fumes, which can explode.