METH LAB OPERATOR GETS EXTRA FIVE YEARS

Running a meth lab in the basement of a church-owned house in Langley
has netted the operator a five-year penitentiary term.

Neil Brent Bermack, 41, was sentenced Monday in Surrey, by B.C.
Provincial Court Judge Patrick Hyde, for production, and possession of
methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking.

Hyde had found Bermack guilty June 3, after police raided the house,
in the 5600-block of 200 Street, on Feb. 20.

Crown counsel Steven Price asked for the maximum 10-year sentence or
"approaching the maximum."

Price called Wayne Jeffery, an RCMP forensic toxicologist and drug lab
investigator, to testify about dangers of meth manufacture and use.

Jeffery described a toxic brew of dangerous substances that can harm
the lab operator, residents of the house and potentially area residents.

The ingredient red phosphorous, "by itself not a danger, can be
contaminated by white phosphorus, a pyrophoric agent" which can
combust spontaneously, or explode in contact with "a drop of
moisture," he said.

Red phosphorus can also turn to white phosphorous under extreme heat.
In the cooking of the meth, the phosphorus can create phosgene, "the
gas that was used in World War One," he told the court.

Hydrochloric acid vapours can also result, and in contact with
moisture in eyes, or lungs, "can cause tremendous injuries," Jeffery
said.

Acetone, used in the process, can also cause explosions, he told the
court.

Outside a properly equipped lab, meth production can "contaminate the
wood and fabrics (in a house) . . . and last many many years, giving
off toxic effects," he said.

And production creates five to six pounds of waste for each pound of
drug made, waste which must be disposed of safely, "or it can
contaminate the water, or ground (and atmosphere)," Jeffery said.

"In the investigations I have been involved in, some of the houses
have had to be demolished," he told the court. The rental home in this
case was ordered demolished by Langley City but that decision has
since been put on hold pending results of a private company's
evaluation of the levels of contamination.

Once on the street, the drug also wreaks havoc.

Meth is a powerful stimulant with identical pharmaceutical effects as
cocaine, except that cocaine's effects last 30 minutes to an hour
while meth's last six to 18 hours, Jeffery said.

In small doses the drug causes euphoria, self-confidence, high energy
and alertness, but with more than 100 milligrams, typical of street
use, the "high" soon leads to exhaustion, anxiety and depression. . .
and "can lead to a methamphetamine psychosis."

Use increases heart and respiratory rates and "typically, the main
cause of death (from its use) is cardiac arrest." Since 2000, there
have been 31 documented deaths from the use of meth, 13 or 14 last
year, and six to date in B.C. this year. Users become increasingly
aggressive, and paranoid.

"That's where the violence tends to begin," he said.

The drug is widespread.

"Educated people use it to work harder," he said.

"It is widely used in high schools. . . widely used in the sports
community. It is a drug that has reached all society levels," he said.

The prosecutor cited a number of precedent cases in seeking a long
sentence.

In the case of Regina vs. Russell, the accused got a four-year term,
and the Crown in that case had cited the production of 74 kilograms as
"a massive amount of methamphetamine," Price told the court.

Bermack's lab had been producing four to seven kilograms per day, for
eight days, before the bust.

And Russell had no criminal record, while Bermack had four related
convictions since 1995.

Judge Hyde noted that precedents cited by the Crown carried sentences
of 14 months to four years, but said Bermack's latest conviction was
for "a previous crystal meth lab," in which he got one year jail time,
plus credit for 323 days served awaiting trial.

Hyde said he considered the dangers of fires and explosions, the
potential escape of deadly gases and danger to "innocent people in the
area," and the harm to society of a drug with "similar" psychological
and physical addiction properties to cocaine "and not far behind heroin."

While Hyde cited the principles of sentencing, including
rehabilitation, he said he had to be concerned with "denunciation and
deterrence" in this case. He agreed to give double-time credit to the
four months Bermack has served in remand, but added a five-year term
to that.

"It is in effect six years," said the judge.