JUMP IS CRYSTAL CLEAR

An explosion in the volume of methamphetamine precursor seizures at the
border has Alberta meth experts scratching their heads. The 2003-04 report
of the Criminal Intelligence Service Alberta, released yesterday, says that
ephedrine now accounts for more than 20% of the documented narcotics seized
coming into Alberta from outside the country.

Ephedrine is a methamphetamine "precursor" chemical - an ingredient used to
make the cheap and highly addictive drug known as crystal meth.

The CISA report notes the Canada Border Services Agency, the federal agency
responsible for monitoring cross-border traffic with the U.S., recorded no
ephedrine seizures in 2002-03.

The spike in seizures itself is no mystery - new federal regulations
controlling trade in precursor chemicals took effect in January of last
year. The regulations list ephedrine as a Table 1 chemical, and require a
licence and permit for import and export.

"So if you're bringing the stuff in without the proper paperwork, it gets
seized," said Sgt. Ian Sanderson, with RCMP K-Division's drug awareness
service.

But the fact that any ephedrine is crossing the border is a puzzle to meth
experts - legal controls on ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are much more lax
in Canada than in the U.S.

The precursors, found in many over-the-counter cold medicines and athletic
supplements, are routinely bought in bulk in Canada to feed meth labs south
of the border.

"Canada's always been seen as a net exporter of ephedrine," said Glenn
Jenkins, a meth lab specialist with Capital Health. "Mexican groups purchase
by the truckload here and drive it south."

"It could be for the local meth market - anything's possible," said Sgt.
Harold Trubish, who heads K-Division's clandestine lab investigation
service.

Police and the provincial government have been complaining for years about
the lack of criminal law banning the collection of large amounts of meth
precursors. Mounties busted nine meth labs in 2003 but failed to lay a
single production or trafficking charge in any of them.