Pubdate: Sun, 08 Feb 2004
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2004, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.fyiedmonton.com/htdocs/edmsun.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135
Author: Doug Beazley

LEGAL LOOPHOLES STOP COPS

City police are enjoying more success than their Mountie counterparts in 
laying charges after methamphetamine lab busts, says a veteran narcotics 
investigator. But that's more to do with good luck than skill, admits 
Edmonton Police Det. Darcy Strang. He said that in the past 18 months the 
Edmonton Police Service has uncovered 10 meth labs within city limits, and 
laid charges in all but one bust.

That single bust involved the discovery of a lab behind a false wall in a 
$250,000 house last spring. No finished product was found at that lab, said 
Strang.

"All it is, is luck. We've been able to get to these labs before they move 
the product out, so we can lay charges," he said. "It's just good timing."

Strang said city police are frustrated by loopholes in the law that can 
prevent them from charging people found with the equipment and ingredients 
to manufacture meth - a particular problem when no finished product is 
found at the scene.

Federal regulations control the production and trade of those "precursor" 
chemicals, but unlike authorities in the U.S., Canadian cops have no power 
to lay charges for precursor possession.

"And it's harder to make charges stick when you seize small amounts of 
product," said Strang. "If you get a conviction on trace amounts, you might 
end up getting a very light sentence."

Strang said the absence of a working meth precursor law in Canada is 
particularly galling, as police believe meth production and trafficking has 
been infiltrated by organized crime.

"The profits to be made in meth now are substantial," he said. "And 
organized crime is into whatever can make them the most money. So we've 
been pushing for something like the (U.S. precursor law) for years."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman