POLICE EXPECT SPEED LABS IN OXFORD

If They Aren't Here Yet, They Are Coming, Say Cops

Oxford police say it won't be long before speed labs begin popping up in
the county as the drug becomes more prevalent among youth.

Speed labs have been uncovered in neighbouring Perth County, and Oxford
Community Police Sgt. Daryl Longworth said the drug trade is making its way
towards Oxford.

"I wouldn't be shocked to find speed labs appearing here," said Longworth.
"Just like any other drug, it's cheaper to produce it yourself and cut out
the middle man."

Rural areas are prime spots for these labs because the chemicals used to
make speed have strong odours that can easily be detected by neighbours or
police.

"The labs are isolated in rural areas and harder to detect," said Det. Brad
Durfy of the OPP drug enforcement unit.

The increase in the availability of speed is a national trend.

A recent RCMP annual report on Canada's drug trade revealed police forces
uncovered 37 speed labs in 2003 compared to two in 1998.

The report suggests the reason for the increase is because organized crime
has become heavily involved in the production and trafficking of the drug.

"We have seen a big increase over past two years," said Durfy. "We have
shut down speed labs in Perth County, Middlesex County and there was a
mobile speed lab in a truck in Oxford. Five years ago there were none.
Speed is a retro drug from the 1970s that has resurfaced in popularity."

The drug produces alertness, confidence and raises levels of energy and
stamina. It also reduces appetite and lessens the desire and ability to sleep.

It can be swallowed, snorted, smoked, or injected.

The report also states that marijuana grow operations are spreading to
epidemic proportions across Canada and especially in Ontario.

Over the past five years, police forces in Canada have seized an average of
1.1 million pot plants a year, a 500 per cent increase since 1993.
Marijuana is reported by police forces as one of their main drug
enforcement problems.

Local police are also grappling with the surge in large growhouse operations.

OCPS recently shut down a growhouse on Dundas Street in Woodstock, seizing
plants with a street value of $1.6 million - the largest drug bust in the
city's history.

Longworth said growers appear to be moving away from residential areas to
larger operations in warehouses or in a block of apartments in commercial
areas, which is how the operation was set up on Dundas Street.

He said the OCPS has shut down close to 30 growhouse operations in the past
year.

"The majority of the marijuana from large scale operations is sent to the
U.S. where there is more of a market," said Longworth. "It is traded for
cocaine and ecstasy, which is then imported back here."

Police said the two men involved in the Dundas Street bust appeared to have
been connected to a larger operation involving processing labs in Toronto
for distribution in Ontario and the United States.

That also reflects figures released this week that suggest the number of
Canadians aged 15 or older who admit to getting high on marijuana or
hashish nearly doubled in 13 years, with the highest rates among teenagers.

About three million people in that age group reported that they used
cannabis at least once in the year before the Canadian Community Health
Survey, which was conducted in 2002.

The Statistics Canada study also found more people were taking five other
drugs: cocaine or crack, ecstasy, LSD and other hallucinogens, amphetamines
(speed), and heroin.