Tainted cocaine found in Alberta and B.C. is also likely to be in this province leading Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer to warn health care workers, addictions counsellors and cocaine users. Health care professionals in Saskatchewan who work with drug users and have knowledge of drug trafficking patterns in the province have said it is likely this cocaine has made its way east to Saskatchewan, said Dr. Moira McKinnon. Levasimole, an antibiotic to treat worm infestations in animals, has been added to powdered cocaine in Alberta and B.C. It suppresses one's immune system allowing minor infections to become potentially deadly. At least 10 residents of British Columbia and seven residents of Alberta have gotten sick because of this combination. [continues 198 words]
PM Affirms Promise Of $161M For Policing REGINA - Investing $161 million in the RCMP will help stem rising "serious crime" rates across the country, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told cadets training at the RCMP academy yesterday. "You don't need to be a criminologist to know that serious crime, especially gun, gang and drug crime, is increasing in this country and it is threatening the Canadian way of life," Mr. Harper said. "It is going to take a strong RCMP, working in partnership with strong local police forces and backed by a federal government determined to tackle crime, to reverse this trend." [continues 364 words]
Investing close to $200 million into a Canadian icon will hopefully help lower crime rates that have risen across our country, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told cadets at the RCMP training academy. "You don't need to be a criminologist to know that serious crime, especially gun, gang and drug crime, is increasing in this country and it is threatening the Canadian way of life," Harper said in his speech Wednesday morning. "It is going to take a strong RCMP working in partnership with strong local police forces and backed by a federal government determined to tackle crime to reverse this trend." [continues 417 words]
A national organization for grocery stores is "perplexed" over Saskatchewan's decision to order the removal of cold and allergy products from grocery stores with other western provinces aren't. Politicians defend the move by saying Saskatchewan's experience with crystal meth labs is different from the other provinces, said Saskatchewan Healthy Living Services Minister Graham Addley. Ministers of health, justice and public safety from Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan agreed in June to co-ordinate their response to a growing crystal meth problem in Western Canada. An interprovincial meeting was held in Regina to develop a regional plan. [continues 312 words]
Pharmacies will be the only retailers allowed to sell cough and cold remedies containing ingredients that can be misused to make crystal meth, says Saskatchewan's minister of healthy living services. Crystal meth is made of a variety of chemicals, including ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in cold and allergy products. A long list of cold and allergy products -- including brands such as Sinutab and Sudafed -- will no longer be allowed for sale in grocery or convenience stores following an announcement by Graham Addley on Tuesday. Those stores will have a transition period to wind down their sales of these products. [continues 280 words]
Saskatchewan is leading the fight against crystal meth, but it needs the federal government to do its part to prevent this drug's spread, says Dave Batters, Conservative Party MP for Palliser. Crystal meth should be reclassified as a schedule 1 drug in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, said Batters. "If it's classified as schedule 1, then the penalties that judges can impose are on par with those that they impose for those found guilty of trafficking in cocaine and heroine. It unties the hands of our judges," said Batters in an interview. [continues 439 words]
REGINA -- Questions about the government's sincerity remain for those who have demanded a provincial crystal methamphetamine strategy. While pleased the government has decided to act on crystal meth, advocates say a strategy announced this week falls short. More money and resources are needed to deal with this drug, which users say is highly addictive and difficult to recover from. "I'm glad they've finally come out with it, but I'm not really satisfied with it at all," said Jean McGillivary, a former crystal meth user from Naicam. She spoke of the addictiveness of crystal meth compared to other drugs in the rotunda of the legislature last November. [continues 433 words]
Crystal meth endangers users and communities like no other drug and its popularity has rapidly grown in Regina over the last year, say those familiar with it. Other drugs -- such as marijuana and cocaine -- are still more prevalent in the city, said Sgt. Gerry Good of the integrated drug unit. But other drugs do not make users as paranoid, he said. "One thing we're seeing with methamphetamines is an increase in the number of firearms," said Good. "In 1988, I saw one gun. Now it is assumed every one of these people is armed. They are (a) danger to themselves and everyone around them." [continues 734 words]
Poisonous chemicals being cooked into crystal meth are a recipe for a toxic fire, leading firefighters, police and other arson professionals directly into the middle of a health and safety hazard, said the organizer of a seminar on clandestine drug labs. About 63 firefighters, insurance adjusters, meter readers and police officers from across Saskatchewan are attending the two-day seminar organized by the Saskatchewan branch of the International Association of Arson Investigators (SASKIAAI). "It's coming this way, so we thought we'd be proactive," said organizer Det.-Sgt. Rick Watson of SASKIAAI. [continues 422 words]
REGINA -- Poisonous chemicals being cooked into crystal meth are a recipe for a toxic fire, leading firefighters, police and other arson professionals directly into the middle of a health and safety hazard, said the organizer of a seminar on clandestine drug labs. Around 63 firefighters, insurance adjusters, meter readers and police officers from across Saskatchewan are attending the two-day seminar organized by the Saskatchewan branch of the International Association of Arson Investigators (SASKIAAI). "It's coming this way, so we thought we'd be proactive," said the organizer, Det. Sgt. Rick Watson. [continues 388 words]
REGINA -- Putting cold and allergy remedies behind pharmacy counters has the support of some police, the Saskatchewan Party and Saskatchewan Health, in an effort to dent the production of crystal meth. Alberta pharmacists made the right decision by voluntarily taking medications with ephedrine and pseudoephedrine off the shelf this week, said Sask. Party MLA Brenda Bakken. Consumers will have to ask for them from the dispensary. "We're calling on the pharmacists in Saskatchewan to follow suit and do the same," she said. [continues 497 words]
