Squamish's campaign against methamphetamine continued this week with a top Washington State narcotics investigator encouraging businesspeople to be aware that they may be selling ingredients to make the dangerous drug to users.
More than 30 retail partners, law enforcement representatives, pharmacy organizations, and local government officials heard Roger Lake, the Executive Director of the Washington State Narcotics Investigation Association, at the 樱桃视频Networking Breakfast Club's meeting Tuesday morning (June 7). The goal was further education on methamphetamine and the prevention of diverting common household products into its illegal production.
Lake was one of the featured speakers at a community forum on meth held in April.
Methamphetamine can be manufactured using cough, cold, and allergy remedies containing pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, the most critical ingredient in the production of methamphetamine, Lake said. Other common household products including rubbing alcohol, drain cleaner, acetone, lithium batteries, starter fluid, red phosphorus, coffee filters, lye, glassware, and gasoline additives, such as methanol are also used - items which are readily available in retail, convenience, and grocery stores, and gas stations.
Increased employee awareness of methamphetamine and the ingredients needed to produce meth will provide local establishments the resources to be responsible community partners, Lake said. The benefits to the stores include a combination of social, economic and safety factors.
Socially, most citizens in 樱桃视频are very concerned about the availability of drugs in their neighbourhoods and store owners and employees are simply broadening their knowledge about the highly dangerous and addictive drug and what it takes to manufacture it, Lake said. Economically, it would be ideal to see limitations on the sale of precursors for improper use; however, increased awareness by store employees, shoppers, and the meth "cooks" in the stores will hopefully reduce the theft of precursors.
Finally, customers will feel safe in stores if there is a proactive approach in learning about meth and to prevent the improper purchases or theft of the active ingredients., he added.
Lake encouraged his audience to help provide a sense of safety to customers by reporting suspicious activity to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477).
"It is vitally important that we do everything we can to prevent the home lab problem from increasing in the Sea to Sky corridor," Lake stated. As pseudoephedrine laws are tightened in the U.S. and along the borders, more home meth labs and "super labs" will be pushed north into Canada.
Not surprisingly, meth use is already rising at a dramatic rate in B.C. If this trend is allowed to continue, the crimes against people will undoubtedly ensue, said Lake.
"It is unfortunate that two categories of increased crime related to meth are domestic violence and child abuse," Lake said. "Other crimes that rose in the U. S. where meth was the drug of choice were mail theft, car theft, petty theft, car prowls, burglaries, substance abuse, identity theft and assault."
