METH WATCH PROGRAM STARTING IN MAPLE RIDGE

Maple Ridge is the first community in Canada introduced to a new Meth
Watch program.

As part if it, a local task force will recruit businesses to take
part, taking ingredients used to make crystal methamphetamine off
shelves and putting them behind counters.

The program also includes posters, stickers and brochures about the
program and meth precursors, as well as an education session teaching
employees how to spot and report suspicious purchases.

"I don't think there's a retailer in the Lower Mainland that wants to
be associated with selling products used to make meth," said Surrey
fire chief Len Garis, a Pitt Meadows resident and member of the
precursors committee of the Life or Meth task force in Maple Ridge The
precursors committee hopes to be distributing materials to local
retailers and soliciting support by the end of January. It is still
awaiting funding approval from the provincial youth crime prevention
program to develop materials for the precursors campaign.

As part of the campaign, participating retailers would be asked to
remove materials used in the production of meth from their shelves -
like cold medications containing pseudophedrine or rubbing alcohol,
brake cleaner, paint thinner, kerosene, ether, methanol, lithium and
sulfuric acid.

Retailers would also receive stickers to place on such materials.

The Meth Watch program was launched by the Retail Council of Canada
and its partners on Dec. 13 to curtail the theft and sale of meth
precursors. It is similar to a program in place in the U.S. for the
past decade.

Now precursors are being purchased in Canada and transported to the
U.S. to produce meth, Garis said.

Maple Ridge is the first community in Canada introduced to the Meth
Watch program.

"It means Maple Ridge is a leader in grabbing and endorsing the Meth
Watch program," said Garis, former fire chief in Pitt Meadows.

The Meth or Life task force was initiated in July by Meadowridge
Rotary president Mary Robson to educate youth about the dangers of
crystal meth and how it is affecting the community.

Meth, an addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system,
is a significant problem in Maple Ridge and around the Lower Mainland.

It is directly linked to property crime, as well as auto thefts and
vehicles fires, according to police and firefighters.

A high percentage of people who live on local streets are addicted to
or use meth.

The local task force, divided into committee, included representatives
from the RCMP, school board, drug and alcohol treatment services and
other community groups, like the Salvation Army. They split up into
three groups: education; addiction and enforcement. Each group
splintered into three or four committees, all with their own mandate:
to come up with a plan within 60 days to stop the use and abuse of
crystal meth.

The 10 committees and their 100 or so members unveiled their plans at
the end of September.

Besides the precursor campaign, a psychiatric nurse was added to the
emergency room at Ridge Meadows Hospital in November. That same month
a community outreach worker was hired to help with drug-addicted
street people.

The local school district recently distributed information packages
about meth to parents and students with report cards .

In October, former Vancouver Canucks general manager Brian Burke
discussed substance misuse with students at Pitt Meadows and Garibaldi
secondary schools.

In November, Maple Ridge council passed a new bylaw, penalizing
property owners who allowed their properties to be used for growing
marijuana and making meth. The bylaw includes fines, as well as
cleaning and inspection requirements.

As part of the meth campaign, the RCMP drug team pledged to dedicate
most of its resources try and to stop whoever is producing and
distributing the drug.

Police found three meth labs at the same residence on two different
occasions this year.

According to a coroner's report, crystal methamphetamine was a
contributing factor in the death of a man found in a wooded area off
the Haney Bypass in June.