METH UNIT, PHARMACISTS PARTNER TO FIGHT WAR ON DRUGS

The Alberta College of Pharmacists is the only college in the country
urging all pharmacies to restrict consumer access to ephedrine and
pseudoephedrine.

The two ingredients are used to produce methamphetamine, a highly addictive
drug.

In an effort to reduce dependency on methamphetamine, drugstore products
containing high amounts of the ingredients will be kept behind the
pharmacists' counters.

"The college and its members are making the components of substances of
abuse and misuse less readily available for individuals seeking them for
illegal purposes," says Alberta College of Pharmacists president Tracy Marsden.

Major pharmacy chains have vowed to comply with the request to reduce
access to the ingredients. Independently owned operations are expected to
follow suit.

The Edmonton Police Service is clamping down on meth use in the city and
has had a meth project team up and running for the past three months. Its
job is to combat the ever-increasing number of users in the city as
Edmonton Police Service (EPS) statistics show a 4,500 per cent increase in
the amount of meth seized from 1999 to 2003. That means while police seized
807.6 grams of the drug in 1999, they snagged 37,294.5 grams off the street
in 2003, thanks in part to a large bust.

Staff Sgt. Adrian Marr is in charge of the meth unit and says two
detectives and an analyst have been dedicated to the team to help combat
growing use in the city.

"It's not just the flavour of the month. Meth is going to be the flavour of
the year for a number of years that we are going to have to combat. It's
easily accessible, people can manufacture it and if you have the right
ingredients, you can make it in your backyard," he says.

Marr says the addiction rate is high because typically the second time it's
used, the user becomes addicted.

"The bottom line is, it's going to be here for a while," says Marr.

Corinne DelColle, an addictions councillor with Alberta Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Commission (AADAC), says the pharmacists' move is positive as AADAC
client data to February 2004 shows that eight per cent of its clients,
which includes adults and adolescents, report concern about amphetamine
stimulants including meth amphetamine.

AADAC's 2002 Alberta Youth Experience survey showed amphetamines including
meth, speed, bennies and ecstasy, were drugs tried by 5.5 per cent of youth
in grades seven through 12. DelColle says part of the appeal of the drug is
it provides a prolonged high compared to other stimulants.

"It gives high energy, lack of fatigue, wakefulness, enhanced performance
and there are feelings of joy and power and high self-esteem," she says.