SURREY RETAILERS URGED TO JOIN METH WATCH ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM

SURREY - Retailers are being urged to join a program aimed at reducing
the number of crystal meth labs. The Surrey Methamphetamine Regional
Task Force rolled out its Meth Watch program on Monday as part of a
90-day plan to combat the production and use of the dangerous drug in
Surrey.

The highly addictive drug is cooked up in potentially explosive
illegal labs that are hidden in residential neighbourhoods.

The chemical ingredients used to produce the drug are found in common
products such as camping fluid, brake fluid, lye, iodine, rubbing
alcohol, starter fluid, lithium batteries, sulfuric acid, rock salt
and matches, to name some. Meth Watch is aimed to watch for suspicious
purchases of such products.

More than 200 Surrey retailers will be contacted over the next several
weeks by the Surrey Crime Prevention Society and Surrey fire
department, and asked to join the voluntary program.

Participating merchants post Meth Watch signs on their storefronts and
train employees to recognize suspicious transactions.

Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis said a similar program in the U.S. has
enjoyed great success

"We're expecting to see a reduction in the number of labs between 10
and 15 per cent," Garis said. "Some states, in the United States, it's
been as high as 50 per cent."