METH LABS POSE SEVERE DANGERS

After two men were seriously burned in a drug-lab fire, provincial police
are again warning such operations are both illegal and dangerous. A
methamphetamine lab in a home on Milverton's Main Street blew up Friday and
sent a 49-year-old man and his 20-year-old son to hospital.

The younger man is at London Health Sciences Centre in critical condition
with serious burns to his face and arms, OPP Const. Tim Diebel said yesterday.

The father also has serious burns and remains at Stratford General
Hospital, Diebel said.

Police did not release the names of the two men.

Methamphetamine, a stimulant also known as speed, is an illegal and
addictive drug that produces a "high" in users.

It also produces enough explosive power during the manufacturing process to
be dangerous.

The recipe may be found easily on the Internet, but the production hazards
can't be emphasized enough, Diebel said.

"The risks are very, very high."

Rural areas, including Perth County, have become havens for methamphetamine
labs because the chemicals used to make the drug are more readily available
at agriculture supply stores in farming communities.

The relative isolation of rural areas also means the smell of a
methamphetamine lab isn't so readily detectable.

Diebel said police in Perth County have recently made a number of busts,
partly because large purchases of the ingredients, such as ether, tend to
draw the attention of store clerks.

In this instance, a neighbour heard the explosion and called police.

The chemicals pose an environmental and health hazard and provincial
Environment Ministry officials are on-site in Milverton to clean up the
problem.

Those dismantling the lab must wear protective gear.

Late last year, police raided a makeshift methamphetamine lab on a Thames
Centre farm and seized about $80,000 worth of the drug.

Last June, a garage fire in Elma revealed a lab and the methamphetamine
found there had a street value of about $37,000.