Pubdate: Thu, 06 Apr 2006 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2006 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Tony Lofaro, The Ottawa Citizen Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy) ECSTASY LAB WAS AMONG THE BIGGEST: WITNESS RCMP Expert Testifies in Sentencing Hearing of Ottawa Drug-Maker An RCMP drug expert testified yesterday that a drug-producing lab in Ottawa uncovered by police in 2003 was at the time one of the biggest operations in the country. RCMP Sgt. Doug Culver said the drug lab operating out of a two-storey warehouse on Canotek Road was "one of the most sophisticated that we had encountered in Canada." In January 2003, Ottawa police found thousands of pills, ecstasy powder and drug-making apparatus at the warehouse following an intensive surveillance of the unit that had begun in October 2002. Sgt. Culver said ecstasy production in Canada has increased substantially since and police forces have uncovered much larger illicit operations. He said that in 2005 there were 51 clandestine drug-making labs operating in Canada, more than there had ever been. Sgt. Culver testified yesterday in a sentencing hearing of Minh Ha, an Ottawa man who has pleaded guilty to producing the designer drug ecstasy out of a warehouse in an industrial park near Montreal Road and the Queensway. When police raided the warehouse unit and Mr. Ha's Rochester Street home, they found 4,500 finished pills, 600 grams of ecstasy powder and roughly $7,500 in cash. According to government scientists who testified earlier in the trial, Mr. Ha had enough chemical ingredients to produce more than a million pills of the drug and there were estimates that it could have produced about $20 million in revenue. Sgt. Culver said the startup costs of an ecstasy lab can be quite high in terms of the equipment and chemicals needed, but once production begins the costs are lower and can range from 50 cents to a dollar per tablet. Generally, the street value of an 80 to 120 milligram tablet -- which produces an euphoric high for the users -- can range from $20 to $30, he said. The trial continues July 4. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake