POLICE, BUSINESSES ROLL OUT METH WATCH

If you sell iodine, rock salt, aluminum foil, coffee filters, starter
fluid, lithium batteries or drain cleaner, you could be providing
someone with the ingredients to make a meth lab.

It's a harsh reality in the world we live in today, and now the
Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Langley
Merchants Association, in partnership with RCMP, have created the
Meth Watch Program that will deliver posters, brochures and 'shelf
talkers,' advising employees and customers about what to look out for
and how to curb the bulk sale of these items.

"This program not only provides business owners and their employees
with valuable information concerning items to watch out for and how
to report suspicious purchases," said Langley RCMP Supt. Janice
Armstrong. "It also puts potential drug manufacturers on notice that
the Langley business community is united and proactive in taking
steps to help reduce drug abuse and crime."

Starting next month, RCMP officers will go from store to store to
deliver the Meth Watch program brochures and posters to store
managers throughout Langley.

"Employers could put the brochures in lunch rooms, put the stickers
(shelf talkers) near the products or at the door," said Armstrong.
"If someone comes in and buys lots of tubing, iodine and batteries,
call us or the 1-800 number."

Last fall, the chamber, DLMA and Langley RCMP co-ordinated a half-day
symposium to provide area business operators with valuable
information concerning drugs and addiction in the workplace.

"Surveys of our membership indicated crime and safety as major
challenges to area businesses," said chamber president Ed Kolla.

"Drug addiction has been identified as a cause for many property
crimes as well as possibly resulting in employee absenteeism."

At the symposium, the chamber's safety and security committee
provided Langley employers with their rights and responsibilities
concerning drugs and addiction in the workplace. The program covered
a wide range of topics including how to identify and report
suspicious purchases, handling customers and employees displaying
signs of drug abuse and employers' duties regarding employee safety."

In turn, the symposium raised $2,000, all of which has been put into
the Meth Watch program, said Kolla.

"If enough of our businesses are educated and follow recommended
reporting procedures the ultimate goal is to decrease the
establishment of drug labs in our community," said DLMA president Craig Davies.

Davies said he was shocked and unaware of some of the chemicals and
items used to make meth.

"I had no idea, no exposure to it," he said.

Armstrong said she still finds it shocking that people are willing to
put things like paint thinner, red phosphorus (matches) and drain
cleaner into their bodies.

"It's no wonder they have brain damage and their teeth rot," she said
about crystal meth addicts.

In the Meth Watch information brochures, it advises employees not to
confront suspicious purchasers, but rather call the RCMP chemical
diversion hotline at 1-800-387-0020.