RCMP BOOST EFFORTS TO STOP INFLUX OF DRUG

MONCTON - The number of seizures in New Brunswick of the drug
methamphetamine has doubled in the past year, RCMP say.

RCMP officers on Monday displayed quantities of methamphetamine,
commonly known as "meth", seized in the province over the past few years.

Compared to the rest of the country, New Brunswick still remains
relatively clean from the addicting drug since no production labs
have been discovered, the Mounties say, and they want to keep it that way.

"What we are seeing in pockets across Canada are problems with
methamphetamine," MacNeil said. "We want to keep it low (in the
province); we do not want methamphetamines to come in here, but that
being said, there are pockets in New Brunswick that have been
affected by this drug."

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive, chemically produced drug that
can produce effects such as exhaustion, depression, mental confusion,
restlessness and insomnia.

MacNeil said that the New Brunswick RCMP recently completed a study
in the province to determine drug use levels. While the results
showed New Brunswick to have lower levels of the drug than other
areas of Canada, the numbers were still on the rise.

The number of meth seizures jumped to 90 in 2008 from roughly 45 in 2007.

Sgt. Dan Nowlan of the Bathurst and Edmundston Regional Drug Unit
said that his region has become the Maritimes gateway for the drugs.

"We have seen, for the past several years, several different
organized crime groups supply methamphetamine to New Brunswick," he
said. "Most of these crime groups have been identified (as being)
from Quebec and have been filtering their product into the province.

"Definitely the Edmundston area, the (Trans-Canada Highway), is a
pipeline for most of the province of New Brunswick and the other
Maritime provinces."

The increase has prompted the Mounties to instruct its officers on
prevention and education measures, said Sgt. Mary Ann MacNeil of the
RCMP Drug and Organized Crime Awareness Services.

Nowlan said the province's Synthetic Drug Operations Unit recently
invited forensic drug expert Wayne Jeffery, a former police officer
from Vancouver, to instruct an Expert Witness Workshop for RCMP
members in Moncton.

"New Brunswick doesn't have a major problem with methamphetamine and
it is with this course, through education of the police, that the
message can then say this is a dangerous drug, here is why it's
dangerous," Jeffery said.