LEGAL LOOPHOLES STOP COPS

City police are enjoying more success than their Mountie counterparts in
laying charges after methamphetamine lab busts, says a veteran narcotics
investigator. But that's more to do with good luck than skill, admits
Edmonton Police Det. Darcy Strang. He said that in the past 18 months the
Edmonton Police Service has uncovered 10 meth labs within city limits, and
laid charges in all but one bust.

That single bust involved the discovery of a lab behind a false wall in a
$250,000 house last spring. No finished product was found at that lab, said
Strang.

"All it is, is luck. We've been able to get to these labs before they move
the product out, so we can lay charges," he said. "It's just good timing."

Strang said city police are frustrated by loopholes in the law that can
prevent them from charging people found with the equipment and ingredients
to manufacture meth - a particular problem when no finished product is
found at the scene.

Federal regulations control the production and trade of those "precursor"
chemicals, but unlike authorities in the U.S., Canadian cops have no power
to lay charges for precursor possession.

"And it's harder to make charges stick when you seize small amounts of
product," said Strang. "If you get a conviction on trace amounts, you might
end up getting a very light sentence."

Strang said the absence of a working meth precursor law in Canada is
particularly galling, as police believe meth production and trafficking has
been infiltrated by organized crime.

"The profits to be made in meth now are substantial," he said. "And
organized crime is into whatever can make them the most money. So we've
been pushing for something like the (U.S. precursor law) for years."