SOLDIERS ALLEGEDLY RAN DRUG LAB AT WAINWRIGHT

Eleven Privates, One Corporal Face Charges

A dozen former and current Canadian soldiers have been charged with a
total of more than 70 drug-related offences after a "clandestine lab"
was discovered at CFB Wainwright.

Those charged are stationed at the training facility, or once were.
Eleven were privates, and one was a corporal.

Three of those charged have already been released from the military,
though those releases were scheduled before the investigation started.

Soldiers at Wainwright have completed basic training, but have no
specialized training for specific duties.

"They were not in supervisory roles," Maj. Daniel Dandurand,
commanding officer of the Canadian Forces National Investigation
Service, Western Region Detachment.

"In the military, you can't have a lower rank than private. They had
not completed their training. In some cases, they hadn't even started."

The charges range from production of a controlled substance to
possession and trafficking.

The production charges against one former and one current soldier are
connected to the manufacture of dimethyltryptamine, a hallucinogenic.
DMT is found in many plants, but can be produced synthetically. As a
drug, it can be snorted, smoked or injected. It induces a shorter high
than other drugs with similar eff ects, such as LSD.

Pte. Matthew Wright and former private David McKinnell face the
production charges, along with other alleged offences.

Other charges of trafficking, possession and use are connected to
ecstasy, marijuana, cocaine and some prescription drugs.

The investigation first became public in late April, when the Canadian
Forces announced that four soldiers had been arrested.

Sgt. Lane Newton of the Wainwright RCMP has said there is no
indication any of the alleged drug deals involved anyone outside of
CFB Wainwright. The RCMP were not in charge of the investigation, but
did assist.

Around the time of the April news release, investigators had
discovered a "clandestine lab" that was being used to produce drugs,
Dandurand said. That lab was near the soldiers' barracks.

The charges will now be passed to the Director of Military
Prosecutions, who will determine if courts martial will be held. An
administrative review will also be done on all the current members to
determine their future in the Canadian Forces.

Along with Wright and McKinnell, the following people were charged under the
National Defence Act, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act or the
National Defense Act: Cpl. Thomas MacDougall, Pte. Jeffrey Brennan, Pte.
Benjamin Humphrey, Pte. Dominique Malette, Pte. Glen Morgan, Pte. Michael
Polack, Pte. Claude Roger Rocan, Pte. Clayton Taylor, former Pte. Michael
Masserey and former Pte. Melyssa Lake.

Roughly $10,000 worth of drugs were seized during the
investigation.

CFB Wainwright is about 200 kilo-metres southeast of Edmonton.