TAKING COLD PILLS OFF SHELVES A GOOD START

The chairwoman of the Maple Ridge Crystal Meth Task Force says the
decision to remove many cold remedies from corner store and gas
station shelves may make a small but important dent in the production
of methamphetamine.

"This won't have a big effect," Mary Robson explained. "But it is a
step in the right direction."

Because many meth manufacturers buy the products needed to
manufacture the drug in bulk from on-line retailers, many critics
believe pulling the medicines from non- pharmacy stores won't make
that much of a difference.

Robson has her own suggestion for bulk buyers:

"As pressure is put on controlling the sales of bulk ephedrine and
pseudo ephedrine, we could expect an increase in the sales of
medications containing them," she wrote in an e-mail to the TIMES.

Those items slated for removal off corner store shelves include
allergy tablets and children's cough medications. There are at least
two types of cold medicines - one with ephedrine as one of several
ingredients and one that contains a higher dose of ephedrine.
Pharmacies will still stock drugs containing low amounts of. These
would include Tylenol Cold and Advil Cold and Sinus.

All high-dose ephedrine medicines, however, like Contact Cold
12-hour, Benylin D for Infants and Sudafed Decongestant Extra
Strength, will now only be available for over the counter purchase.

Meanwhile, the RCMP is more hesitant to comment on the decision to
pull all ephedrine products from non-pharmacy shelves.

"I think, yes, it's fair to say it's yet to be determined how this
will affect [meth production]," said Cpl. John McDougall of the
Ridge-Meadows RCMP drug section.

McDougall who has spent years on various RCMP drug enforcement squads
did say, however, that methamphetamine usage in Maple Ridge is
equivalent to Vancouver 10 years ago. He believes this is because
meth use in general is on the upswing throughout the Lower Mainland.

So far, the RCMP has "busted" two meth labs in the Maple Ridge area.
The first was several years ago in the 248 Street and Dewdney Trunk
Road area. The second, he said, was in 2005 in the neighbourhood of
240 Street and 105 Avenue.

Presently the RCMP is investigating two more possible meth labs in
the area, he said. There are, McDougall said, approximately 100
active and inactive labs throughout Southern B.C.

"There are also ones called mobile labs, which are at the back of
five-ton trucks."

McDougall believes one of the difficulties in catching up with meth
producers is that while raw ephedrine is illegal in the U.S. it is
not in Canada.

"It's coming in from China and India and all you have to do is apply
for a customs license. Pay a lawyer in China $25,000 and pay a lawyer
here and then you can get an export import license."

Despite how bleak it sounds, McDougall remains optimistic about the
RCMP's ability to track these drug labs.

"I can say I have helped some people."