Pubdate: Sun, 03 Aug 2003 Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Copyright: 2003, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.fyiedmonton.com/htdocs/edmsun.shtml Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135 Author: Keith Bradford Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc) METH ALERT LEADS TO PAPER CHASE Jail Staff On Lookout For Drug Being Smuggled Inside On Stamps, Envelopes First it was LSD on postage stamps. Now inmates are getting their hands on methamphetamine smuggled into jails on paper, Alberta guards have been warned. Edmonton Police Service detective Pete Cherniawsky said a memo has been sent to jails throughout the province warning the drug is being concealed in paper. "You can dissolve it in water and soak it in the paper, just like sugar. Who would notice that?" Julie Keravel, director of preventative security and intelligence for Corrections Canada, said meth hidden in paper has already been found in federal jails in the east, but hasn't yet been detected in the West. "It's like acid. They can put it on stamps, on envelopes, on Christmas cards." Edmonton Institution spokesman Gary Sears said "suspicious-looking" incoming mail is being examined for meth, but none has been found. "It's a relatively new technique, but it's something we're able to intercept with the ion scanner." Doug Hayhurst, regional vice-president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, said the problem with scanning is that a lot of mail isn't checked. And a guard at the Edmonton Remand Centre, who asked not to be identified, said most staff don't know what to look for. "To be honest, I wouldn't know meth if it jumped up and bit me on the ass. Our department hasn't kept us up to date." Dan MacLennan, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, said the fact meth can be hidden in something as innocuous as paper means there are much easier ways of getting it into jails than through the mail. "They can bring it in that way through body cavities. I'm hoping they do more drug testing, because there is a real problem with violence and increased drug activity." When inmates get their hands on meth-soaked paper, they have the option of eating it, said Cherniawsky. But that method loses much of the drug's potency. Some users soak the paper in water and then leave it to evaporate, he said, leaving the methamphetamine crystals behind. Keravel said smuggling meth in paper isn't a big problem because it's not currently a drug of choice in most jails, and scanners and dogs can detect it. But Cherniawsky said it's an issue that's likely to get worse as meth use becomes more widespread. "If they can make a man into a woman, they can certainly smuggle meth in paper into an institution." Meanwhile, the president of the B.C. Marijuana Party said reports that Edmonton dealers are mixing meth with marijuana to get kids hooked don't make sense. Marc Emery said he believes it's chemically possible to mix the two but because they have very different effects it's not a combination that has any long-term market value. "Teenagers are very vulnerable to trying experiments of all kinds and I don't rule out that it could be done," he said. "But you may as well sell outright methamphetamine. It doesn't make sense to cross-dress it as anything else." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin