GETTING TOUGH ON METH

Meth pushers, beware: there's now a bounty on your heads. In an
attempt to keep the dangerous drug crystal meth from taking a deeper
root in our province, the province's Crime Stoppers program has
doubled the loot callers can rake in if one of their tips leads to an
arrest or significant seizure of the drug. Until the end of February,
anonymous tipsters can earn as much as $4,000 if their information
helps law enforcement officials stop someone from producing or
trafficking meth.

The highly-addictive drug, which has produced countless addicts and
caused tremendous damage in regions all around us, has started to take
root in Manitoba. While cocaine, marijuana and ecstacy have recently
been the narcotics of choice captured during a recent string of drug
busts, there is a growing amount of evidence that crystal meth is
taking root here, threatening to addict its users on their first try.

"Unfortunately, meth works like a cancer cell," Brandon Police Service
Chief Richard Bruce told a news conference in Winnipeg. "If we don't
do something about it, it will consume us."

We often lament that the provincial NDP government is soft on crime,
having allowed outlaw biker and street gangs to set up shop in
Manitoba. We can't make that claim when it comes to their attack on
crystal meth.

This added bonus for those who help bust meth labs and dealers follows
their announcement that from now on, 17 single-source pseudoephedrine
products -- including many types of cough syrup -- that are used to
make crystal meth will now be kept behind pharmacy counters. Combine
that with a special crime unit whose job it is to shut down grow ops
and meth labs and you have a strong response to stopping crystal meth.

There is still more work to be done -- they should keep lobbying the
federal government for tougher sentences for meth producers -- but the
province's strong response against crystal meth will, we hope, ensure
Manitoba avoids the fate of many other provinces and states whose
resources have been so tied up in the fight against the drug and whose
people's lives have been utterly destroyed by its addictive nature.