THREE LOCALS NAMED TO METH ANTI-DRUG GROUP

(PERTH) - The Ontario government has named three civic leaders in
Stratford to the new provincial Crystal Meth Working Group.

Perth-Middlesex MPP John Wilkinson announced the appointments of Jerry
McEwin, chief of the Stratford Police Service; Richard Young, acting
chief of the Stratford Fire Service; and Dr. Rosana Pellizzari,
Medical Officer of Health with the Perth District Health Unit.

"I am extremely pleased that these three outstanding people from my
riding have been asked to serve on the provincial working group,"
Wilkinson said in a news release. "I am heartened that the provincial
government is fully engaged in finding a solution to the scourge of
crystal meth."

The province created the Crystal Meth Working Group in June 2005 to
determine the extent of the problem in Ontario and recommend ways
the provincial government could assist communities, health care
providers, educators and police services in dealing with the use and
production of methamphetamine.

The drug is highly addictive and its production extremely
dangerous.

Many of the 17 meth lab busts in the province over the last two years
have been in Perth County, where the chemicals needed to make the drug
(including anhydrous ammonia, a fertilizer, can easily be found.
The working group will be co-chaired by David Bedard, manager
of the Organized Crime Strategy unit at the Ministry of Community
Safety and Correctional Services, and Acting Det. Supt. Frank Elbers
of the OPP's drug enforcement section.

The Ontario government is also intensifying its fight against
methamphetamine with additional training and resources for front-line
police officers.

The province is providing $230,000 to the Ontario Police College to
build and equip a mock illegal drug lab. The lab will include a meth
production area and a marijuana grow operation to train police
officers to properly identify, investigate and dismantle that type of
installation.

The college has also prepared a training package for front-line police
officers on the dangers of meth and its production.

The federal government has increased the maximum penalties for the
possession, trafficking and production of meth. The maximum sentence
for the production and distribution of meth is now life in prison,
instead of 10 years.