SYNTHETIC DRUGS A GROWING THREAT

Production Easy. Money Spent On Illicit Drugs Tops Gdp Of 88% Of
World's Countries

Marijuana remains the drug of choice around the world, but the surge
in clandestine methamphetamine production is a growing concern, an
international conference on fighting drugs heard yesterday.

"Synthetic drugs are really one of the key threats that we have to
look at over the next few years," Derek Ogden, the RCMP's director
general, drugs and organized crime, told the 24th International Drug
Enforcement Conference in Montreal yesterday.

The production of these drugs is easy, but its toll on users and
environmental harm to communities are severe, he told nearly 300
delegates from 76 countries.

Synthetic drugs are a growing portion of the estimated $322 billion
U.S. spent annually around the world on illicit drugs. That exceeds
the gross domestic product of 88 per cent of countries in the world.

Karen Tandy, administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration, said an estimated 26 million people worldwide use
ecstasy and methamphetamines, which she added still ranks well behind
the 161 million users of various forms of cannabis.

Addiction to ecstasy or meth leaves users physically battered by the
potent chemicals.

Criminals are attempting to avoid law enforcement by rerouting
precursor drugs like ephedrine through various countries,
particularly in Africa.

Canada is increasingly becoming a destination of choice. Canadian
police dismantled 30 clandestine labs last year, up from 14 a year
earlier, RCMP Deputy Commissioner Pierre-Yves Bourduas said.

"We've seen clearly across the country a resurgence of these types of
labs," Bourduas said.

Tandy said disrupting the shipment of these and other drugs require a
high degree of international co-operation. Such sensitive matters are
being discussed behind closed doors for much of the conference.

"Intelligence, intelligence," Tandy said.

"It is all about that if we are to really hit these organizations
where they are most vulnerable, if we are really to have the kind of
impact that we're here to deliver to the world's greatest evil organizations."

A by-product of this intelligence has been to help coalition soldiers
avert terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, she said.

More than 90 per cent of the world's heroin is supplied from this
embattled region.

Critics of the U.S. drug policy held a counter symposium blocks from
the official conference. They argued the U.S.-led drug war has been a failure.

But Tandy rejected the criticism, arguing that drug use is down
sharply among teens and adults in the United States.

Tandy also said she is pleased with the approach of Canada's new
Conservative government, which vowed not to follow through with the
former Liberal government's pledge to decriminalize possession of
small quantities of pot.

The conference, at the Hilton Montreal Bonaventure Hotel, began
Monday and ends tomorrow.