stevesboo23
06-16-2005, 08:51 AM
Manitoba must take action to avert major meth problem: RCMP
WINNIPEG (CP) - Manitoba's growing problem with methamphetamines could quickly spiral out of control if law enforcers and lawmakers don't act swiftly, one of the province's top RCMP officers warned Thursday.
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Chief Supt. Bill Robinson said Manitobans need only look to their neighbours to the south to see just how devastating meth addiction can be. "We're facing a dilemma here," Robinson said during a panel discussion on meth at the fifth annual international legislators' forum.
"I don't think we're at an epidemic proportion yet, but if we don't take action we're going to be hit with the wave - it's coming."
Robinson told the group of 34 legislators from Manitoba, South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota that the RCMP is trying to reach children with prevention and education programs as young as elementary-school age.
"When you get in at that level, at least we stand a 50-50 chance of making a difference."
But Robinson acknowledged stopping the production, trafficking and abuse of meth creates a different set of challenges for police than other drugs.
It's easy to make, it's easier to hide than a large-scale marijuana grow-op and it can be made in either small "clan" or "Mom and Pop" style operations or large so-called super labs.
There's a high price to pay if the problem isn't dealt with effectively, said U.S. representatives at the two-day forum.
In North Dakota, 60 per cent of all prison inmates are meth addicts, said state legislator Ole Aarsvold.
"It's a devastating situation," said Aarsvold.
Aarsvold said his state is trying to curb the problem by clamping down on the sale of chemicals used to make meth, such as ephedrine, and locking farm tanks that contain anhydrous ammonia.
Ken Peterson of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said the United States has been much more effective in choking off the supply of key ingredients than Canada.
"If you stop the chemical used to make meth from coming in, which the United States has dealt with very severely, you are kind of nipping the problem in the bud," said Peterson, the resident agent in charge of the Vancouver office.
A report released in January by eight Canadian agencies, including the RCMP, Health Canada and the Canadian Border Services Agency, and 10 American agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, found increasing amounts of ephedrine were being imported to Canada, mainly from China and India, with the goal of getting it into the United States.
Peterson said criminals can make almost as much selling ephedrine as the meth itself.
The study also found the number of methamphetamine labs dismantled by Canadian police rose to 10,051 in 2003 from a mere 24 in 2000.
Manitoba Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh said he will meet with justice and health ministers from across Western Canada and the North next week in Regina to discuss the methamphetamine problem.
He also repeated his calls for the federal government to toughen penalties for those who produce and traffic the drug.
The maximum sentence for trafficking methamphetamines is 10 years, while it's life in prison for producing and trafficking heroin and cocaine, said Mackintosh.
WINNIPEG (CP) - Manitoba's growing problem with methamphetamines could quickly spiral out of control if law enforcers and lawmakers don't act swiftly, one of the province's top RCMP officers warned Thursday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Chief Supt. Bill Robinson said Manitobans need only look to their neighbours to the south to see just how devastating meth addiction can be. "We're facing a dilemma here," Robinson said during a panel discussion on meth at the fifth annual international legislators' forum.
"I don't think we're at an epidemic proportion yet, but if we don't take action we're going to be hit with the wave - it's coming."
Robinson told the group of 34 legislators from Manitoba, South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota that the RCMP is trying to reach children with prevention and education programs as young as elementary-school age.
"When you get in at that level, at least we stand a 50-50 chance of making a difference."
But Robinson acknowledged stopping the production, trafficking and abuse of meth creates a different set of challenges for police than other drugs.
It's easy to make, it's easier to hide than a large-scale marijuana grow-op and it can be made in either small "clan" or "Mom and Pop" style operations or large so-called super labs.
There's a high price to pay if the problem isn't dealt with effectively, said U.S. representatives at the two-day forum.
In North Dakota, 60 per cent of all prison inmates are meth addicts, said state legislator Ole Aarsvold.
"It's a devastating situation," said Aarsvold.
Aarsvold said his state is trying to curb the problem by clamping down on the sale of chemicals used to make meth, such as ephedrine, and locking farm tanks that contain anhydrous ammonia.
Ken Peterson of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said the United States has been much more effective in choking off the supply of key ingredients than Canada.
"If you stop the chemical used to make meth from coming in, which the United States has dealt with very severely, you are kind of nipping the problem in the bud," said Peterson, the resident agent in charge of the Vancouver office.
A report released in January by eight Canadian agencies, including the RCMP, Health Canada and the Canadian Border Services Agency, and 10 American agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, found increasing amounts of ephedrine were being imported to Canada, mainly from China and India, with the goal of getting it into the United States.
Peterson said criminals can make almost as much selling ephedrine as the meth itself.
The study also found the number of methamphetamine labs dismantled by Canadian police rose to 10,051 in 2003 from a mere 24 in 2000.
Manitoba Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh said he will meet with justice and health ministers from across Western Canada and the North next week in Regina to discuss the methamphetamine problem.
He also repeated his calls for the federal government to toughen penalties for those who produce and traffic the drug.
The maximum sentence for trafficking methamphetamines is 10 years, while it's life in prison for producing and trafficking heroin and cocaine, said Mackintosh.