Canada's Open Door To Meth

[Alfa]

CANADA'S OPEN DOOR TO METH
Justice Officials Plead for Tougher Enforcement
More than half the ephedrine imported into Canada through companies licensed by the federal government ends up in illegal labs that make crystal meth, one of North America's most dangerous and addictive street drugs, a Free Press investigation has learned.
While provinces move to push medications containing small amounts of meth's key ingredients behind drugstore counters, Health Canada too often seems powerless to prevent the bulk sale of ehpredrine and pseudoephedrine to criminals who make methamphetamine by the kilo.
Police have described meth use as the biggest law enforcement concern in Western Canada today.
The Free Press interviewed justice and industry officials who said that despite tough talk from Ottawa three years ago on measures to control the manufacture of crystal meth, nothing effective has been done to halt the meth pipeline that is destroying young lives as the drug's availability moves eastward across Canada.
Gord Mackintosh, Manitoba's attorney-general, said as much as 70 per cent of legally imported ephredrine and pseudoephredrine, its less-potent synthetic cousin, ends up as crystal meth. That estimate is shared by B.C. Solicitor General John Les. He said of the 70,000 kilos lawfully imported into Canada each year, only 30,000 winds up with legal manufacturers.
An industry official agreed. "It sounds high, but it's not too far off the mark," Gerry Harrington, a spokesman for the National Drug Manufacturers Association of Canada, said in a interview. Harrington said that neither Health Canada nor the industry know the actual amount of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine imported into Canada each year.
Harrington said the federal government must devote more resources to fight the diversion of the stimulants to meth labs.
"One thing that is sorely lacking is people on the ground. It's great to have a regulatory framework, but it's the number of inspectors that's been the missing piece."
Case in point: RCMP seized 9,000 kilograms of ephedrine just over a year ago in police raids centred in Winnipeg. Police alleged it came from a licensed Thunder Bay health supplement dealer who was charged in the raids, and that the ephedrine was to be shipped to illegal meth labs in Canada and the United States. The Thunder Bay dealer purchased the ephedrine legally from a licensed Toronto importer.
Last week, Mackintosh wrote the ministers in the federal departments of Health, Public Safety and Justice urging them to toughen enforcement of regulations to halt the diversion of meth precursors - mainly ephedrine and pseudoephedrine - to traffickers.
"Currently, it is possible to purchase precursors legally with a properly authorized license issued by Health Canada," Manitoba's attorney-general wrote. "Health Canada, however, lacks strong enforcement powers and the resources to adequately screen applicants for licenses and has virtually no inspection cabability to determine whether the end use of the product is legitimate ..."
Mackintosh urged Health Canada to "hire a sufficient number of trained inspectors to conduct regular physical inspections that would track bulk product purchases from the point of original purchase to end users.
"If Health Canada is not prepared to do so, it should consider appointing the RCMP as its agents for these purposes." In an interview, MacIntosh described Health Canada's lack of control as "negligence."
"Health Canada has got to put resources on the ground. We can't allow the nation to become a deer in the headlight of meth."
He said "minimal" checks are done on licensed dealers, and that there are only three Health Canada enforcement officers for all of Western Canada.
An RCMP officer whose job is to stop the flow of precurser products to illegal labs said Health Canada's actions in January, 2003, to tighten control have had no impact on the production of crystal meth.
Those measures included requiring licenses, permits, criminal background checks, and end-use declarations. As well, dealers were to keep records for at least two years, submit yearly reports and report any "suspicious transactions."
But, "If we don't have a watchdog, what's the purpose," the officer, who asked to remain unnamed, said. "It's just a paperchase."
He said companies are not required to report purchases of large amounts of precursor substances to the federal regulator. And there is the "fear factor," he said, adding that the Hells Angels and Asian-based crime groups are behind much of the crystal meth production in Canada.
"They're not nice people. They have been known to use violence."
From west to east, police fear meth use could become epidemic. "It's pretty much showed up everywhere," Staff Sgt. Ian Sanderson, a drug awareness co-ordinator with the RCMP in Alberta said. "Once it hits it basically has the ability to turn a town upside down and blow the doors off."
Det. Doug McCutcheon, a Toronto Police Service spokesman, said: "The regulatory body was caught flat-footed. The horse is now out of the barn and they're trying to figure out how to corral it."
Police shut 25 meth labs in 2002. The next year they found 37 and in 2004, 40 labs. They are chiefly in B.C. and Alberta but police are now finding labs in Ontario and Quebec as the drug's popularity moves east.
One of the largest labs ever found in Canada was shut Sept. 23 in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Officials seized drugs worth $2.5 million at street level and found a sophisticated lab capable of making more than 12 kilograms of meth every 48 hours.
Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, two stimulants commonly used as decongestants, are legally imported into Canada from India, Europe and Asia, fall under the control of Health Canada. Other Class A precursors are found in fragrances, flavourings and silicone products.
Paul Duchense, a spokesman for Health Canada, told the Free Press the current regulations are under review but said the review was not connected to any specific cases or loopholes which have been discovered.
"All records must be readily accessible at the site, either in paper or electronic form, and must be made available for inspection,"
Duchesne said. "Failure to comply with regulations may result in a suspension or revocation of a licence or permit."
There was no limit on the amount of ephedrine a licenced dealer can import or export, but each "trans-border shipment" must first be approved through Health Canada.
A senior RCMP source said he believes a handful of Health Canada inspectors have been hired and are currently in training. But he said their mandate is hampered by poor wording in Ottawa's Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, specifically provision 6.1 regarding the movement of precursor chemicals in Canada.
He said the act now covers only the import and export of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in and out of Canada -- not the domestic distribution.
That is currently under review, but even if tighter controls are put in place, Ottawa has to follow it up with aggressive inspections -- aided by police officers -- for it to have any teeth, he said.
As well, he said any change must include a criminal penalty for anyone caught with large amounts off amounts of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine.
"Right now Health Canada just regulates packaging," he said. "What has to happen is that whole Controlled Drugs and Substances has to be cracked open."