c-ray
05-10-2006, 05:50 PM
By ROSS MAROWITS, THE CANADIAN PRESS
May 10, 2006
http://torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/05/10/1572767-sun.html
MONTREAL -- Marijuana is still the drug of choice around the world but the surge in methamphetamine production is a growing concern, an international conference on drugs heard yesterday.
"Synthetic drugs are really one of the key threats that we have to look at over the next few years," Derek Ogden, the RCMP's director general of drugs and organized crime, told the 24th International Drug Enforcement Conference.
The production of these drugs is easy but its toll on users and environmental harm to communities are severe, he told nearly 300 delegates from 76 countries.
$354B ANNUALLY
Synthetic drugs are a growing portion of the estimated $354 billion spent annually around the world on illicit drugs.
Karen Tandy, administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said an estimated 26 million people worldwide use Ecstasy and methamphetamines -- which still ranks well behind the 161 million users of various forms of cannabis.
Addiction to Ecstasy and meth leaves users physically battered by the potent chemicals.
'RESURGENCE'
Canadian police dismantled 30 clandestine labs last year, up from 14 a year earlier, said RCMP deputy commissioner Pierre-Yves Bourduas. "We've seen clearly across the country a resurgence of these types of labs," Bourduas said.
Tandy said disrupting the shipment of these and other drugs require a high degree of international co-operation.
"Intelligence, intelligence, intelligence," Tandy said.
"It is all about that if we are to really hit these organizations where they are most vulnerable, if we are really to have the kind of impact that we're here to deliver to the world's greatest evil organizations," she said.
May 10, 2006
http://torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/05/10/1572767-sun.html
MONTREAL -- Marijuana is still the drug of choice around the world but the surge in methamphetamine production is a growing concern, an international conference on drugs heard yesterday.
"Synthetic drugs are really one of the key threats that we have to look at over the next few years," Derek Ogden, the RCMP's director general of drugs and organized crime, told the 24th International Drug Enforcement Conference.
The production of these drugs is easy but its toll on users and environmental harm to communities are severe, he told nearly 300 delegates from 76 countries.
$354B ANNUALLY
Synthetic drugs are a growing portion of the estimated $354 billion spent annually around the world on illicit drugs.
Karen Tandy, administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said an estimated 26 million people worldwide use Ecstasy and methamphetamines -- which still ranks well behind the 161 million users of various forms of cannabis.
Addiction to Ecstasy and meth leaves users physically battered by the potent chemicals.
'RESURGENCE'
Canadian police dismantled 30 clandestine labs last year, up from 14 a year earlier, said RCMP deputy commissioner Pierre-Yves Bourduas. "We've seen clearly across the country a resurgence of these types of labs," Bourduas said.
Tandy said disrupting the shipment of these and other drugs require a high degree of international co-operation.
"Intelligence, intelligence, intelligence," Tandy said.
"It is all about that if we are to really hit these organizations where they are most vulnerable, if we are really to have the kind of impact that we're here to deliver to the world's greatest evil organizations," she said.