COPS TRAIN FOR METH

They're in houses, apartments, trailers and motel rooms. Hunters and park
rangers are finding them in the woods of the American Midwest, where one of
them sparked a major forest fire last year. They kill some people and maim
others. They pollute the environment, destroy homes, turn children into
orphans and leave young thrill-seekers looking like worn-out raisins.

They also generate huge profits - how does a $10,000 return on a $100
investment sound?

And Canada is a great place to set up one of these operations.

"You're in a position to have a serious problem with this," Don Rothenbaum,
a U.S. expert on clandestine methamphetamine labs, warned a classroom full
of Edmonton drug cops and firefighters yesterday.

Rothenbaum is senior vice-president of California-based Network
Environmental Systems, which teaches American emergency workers to dismantle
the jerry-rigged chemical labs without blowing themselves up or inhaling
toxic fumes.

He and two other experts from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency delivered a
five-day training course in Edmonton last week - believed to be the first of
many to come in Canada.

The training concentrated on the two most popular ways to produce meth: the
red phosphorous method, which is most prevalent in Canada, and the faster
ammonia method which is sweeping the U.S.

Both recipes use easy-to-find ingredients, many of which are more strictly
regulated in the U.S. than Canada.

"These labs represent significant hazards to law enforcement, first
responders, and to the chemists themselves," Rothenbaum said.

"Anhydrous ammonia has killed many suspects and injured many law enforcement
officers."

Fire and explosion pose the biggest threat. Just last week, seven meth labs
blew up in the U.S., Rothenbaum said.

Cops and firefighters wear full-body suits with oxygen tanks when they go
inside to gather evidence and dismantle equipment. They never know what
they'll find. Tests have shown the walls and carpets of a former meth lab
can retain toxic compounds long after the cook is gone.

"It's not like we can sweep all of this into a garbage bag," said April
Idleburg, a forensic chemist with the DEA.