METH LABS, GROW OPS POSE HIGH RISK TO KIDS

Police and health officials are anticipating an explosion in the number of
kids being put at risk by their parents' drug activities. One of the main
concerns is the danger to kids posed by the chemicals used to manufacture
methamphetamine.

"A lot of these chemicals are toxic and also the meth gets into the
children's systems," explained St. Albert RCMP drug cop Const. Mike Moulds.

"(Marijuana) grow operations also endanger children because of the black
mould that accumulates."

St. Albert RCMP are hosting a workshop Friday for around 50 emergency
workers, including health staff, Crown prosecutors, and social agencies who
come in contact with children living in drug homes.

"At this stage we are being proactive," explained Moulds.

"This is a massive problem in Arizona and California and it is only a
matter of time before it shows up here."

Mould says the problems being addressed Friday range from the danger of
children living in illegal meth labs to parents neglecting their kids due
to addiction.

The joint Edmonton police-social services Child At Risk Team was called to
around half a dozen drug houses last year where children were present.

Environmental Health inspector Glenn Jenkins said he'd been called to two
marijuana grow operations in homes where children lived.

"In one the furnace had been disconnected," he said.

"There was a real danger of carbon-monoxide poisoning."

The U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy says the number of raided
meth labs where children lived was 1,447 in 2003. A total of 1,291 kids
tested in 2003 were found to have been exposed to toxic chemicals and three
died.

Some landlords are ignorant of how dangerous the residue from a lab is, and
try to erase the evidence with a new coat of paint. That's not good enough,
Jenkins said. "Every pound of meth generates about five pounds of toxic
waste," he said.