CRYSTAL METH MEETING ANNOUNCED

Premier Lorne Calvert announced a western meeting on crystal meth to be held in Regina June 10th.

"Crystal meth continues to be a special concern in western North America and getting the key people from the west together to tackle it makes good sense," Calvert said. "Saskatchewan placed it on the agenda of the Western Premiers' meeting, and the Premiers' response was to dedicate more time and attention to it."

The Western leaders will be calling for tougher federal laws to treat crystal meth in the same manner as drugs like cocaine and heroin. This would call for greater criminal penalties for traffickers of crystal meth.

"We also need to look at prevention and treatment, and to place crystal meth in the context of other prevention and treatment programs our jurisdictions focus on for addictions. This is an opportunity for us to learn from each other and try to establish best practices, which have the greatest effect in getting people off crystal meth, and preventing them from getting on it in the first place."

Justice, Health and Public Safety ministers from the four western provinces and three territories have been invited.

A representative from Idaho, which was the lead-sponsor of the Western Governors' recent resolution on 'Drug Policy for the West', and from the two border-states nearest to Saskatchewan, North Dakota and Montana, will also be invited.

The agenda for the meeting will be released in June.

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For More Information, Contact:

Jay Branch Media Services Regina Phone: (306) 787-6349