ONTARIO EYES MEASURES TO STOP DRUG'S SCOURGE

TORONTO -- The spread of a lethal crystal meth scourge across Ontario
can be avoided if measures to crack down on its use are put in place
quickly enough next year, says a top provincial drug enforcement officer.

Crystal meth -- a highly addictive and potentially lethal drug -- has
really only been familiar to police in Ontario for about four years.
In Canada, it's much more prevalent in the Prairie provinces.

But potentially explosive makeshift labs used to mix the toxic
concoction are becoming more common in southwestern Ontario --
underlining the need to combat the drug's spread soon before it moves
further east, says Det. Supt. Frank Elbers of the Ontario provincial
police's drug enforcement section.

Elbers is co-chairman of a new working group convened by the
provincial government to examine the drug's spread. A framework of
the group's recommendations could be presented to the province by the
end of March, he says.

After that, it's up to the province to prepare legislation that would
make it more difficult for drug users to get access to key
ingredients of crystal meth and better equip police to combat related
crimes. The goal is to get ahead of crystal meth's spread instead of
falling behind, Elbers says. New laws aimed at cracking down on
marijuana grow-ops were passed before the Ontario legislature rose
for the holidays this month, but marijuana use and cultivation is
already quite common in the province.

"We feel we have an opportunity, if we act quickly, to be more
proactive as opposed to how with the whole marijuana issue, it was
like playing catch up," Elbers says.

The working group includes representation from multiple provincial
ministries: health, justice, education, health promotion and even
child services.

"We don't want this sort of thing to drag on," he says. "By and
large, the majority of our meth concerns are still in the
southwestern Ontario area -- it hasn't bludgeoned across the province
like it has out west."

In Western Canada, governments have already instituted laws to fight
the cheap and highly addictive drug.

This month, Alberta joined Manitoba and Saskatchewan in forcing
pharmacists to keep cold remedies containing pseudoephedrine -- a key
crystal meth ingredient -- behind the counter. It's meant to prevent
drug users from scooping up boxes of cold remedies they would take to
crystal meth labs.

Ontario and British Columbia are considering similar restrictions.

Crystal meth is such a concern in Western Canada that Alberta Premier
Ralph Klein and his wife, Colleen -- who led a provincial committee
regarding the drug -- want their battle against it to be their lasting legacy.