LESSONS IN DANGEROUS DRUGS

Ottawa Police expect an invasion of chemical drugs here, and they
spent yesterday training "first responders" on what to expect when
they flood in.

The National Integrated Training on Chemical Drugs for First
Responders sessions hosted by city police yesterday is a response to
increased local use of chemical drugs that have brought clandestine
labs and a new criminal element to Ottawa with them, said Staff-Sgt.
Marc Pinault.

Drugs like crystal methamphetamine have become more common in Ottawa,
said Pinault. And as demand increases, so does the threat of harm to
the "first responders" -- police, paramedics, firefighters -- who bust
chem labs, treat overdose victims or respond to fires at houses where
drugs are produced.

"(Meth) is working its way here. We wouldn't have seen this five years
ago. The better trained we are the less chance we will suffer an
injury searching clandestine laboratories," Pinault said of the need
for training.

The seminar also profiles the use of common street drugs, to more
exotic substances being used in bars and at raves and parties to
facilitate sexual assaults.

Cocaine and ecstacy are even greater problems right now than meth.
Louise Logue, a youth intervention co-ordinator with the Ottawa
Police, said police worry about the alarming number of children they
find are using the drugs.

"The younger they start the greater the probability they will form a
dependency," she said.

The training stems from a 2002 meeting in Vancouver where major
Canadian police agencies met to discuss regional and provincial trends
in chemical drug use, production and trafficking and resolved to
better train front line workers.