Vita Health Products an Active Participant in the Meth Watch Coalition

Winnipeg, MB – November 16, 2004 - Vita Health Products Inc., one of Canada’s largest manufacturers of store brand over the counter drugs, announces its participation in the Meth Watch Coalition.  Spearheaded by NDMAC (Non-Prescription Drug Manufacturers Association of Canada), the Meth Watch coalition previewed the Meth Watch program launching in the new year to prevent the diversion of common household products into the manufacture of the street drug methamphetamine. Vita Health is a strong supporter of this initiative, aimed at fighting the clandestine production of methamphetamine in Canada.

Meth Watch is a voluntary program that involves many concerned people at the community and provincial level, including law enforcement, public officials, retailers, manufacturers, community activists and drug prevention personnel.  The coalition designed the Meth Watch program to help curtail the theft and suspicious sales of pseudoephedrine products, as well as other common household products used in the illicit manufacturing of methamphetamine by small, toxic labs.  A key goal of the program is to promote cooperation between retailers and law enforcement to prevent the diversion of legitimate products for illegal use.

Methamphetamine abuse in Canada has been steadily on the rise since 2000.  Methamphetamine is a stimulant that affects the central nervous system, is much more powerful than regular amphetamines and is highly addictive.  Abusers describe the high as a ‘rush’ or ‘flash’ that causes intense pleasure but only lasts a few minutes. Users can become addicted and dependent quickly, needing more and higher doses as the addiction progresses.  Abuse has been prevalent in the Western Provinces with Alberta stating that it is among the most widely abused drugs in that province.

Meth Watch is the first national effort aimed at curbing the spread of methamphetamines, and will provide a critical step in reducing the availability of methamphetamines in communities nationwide.

The Meth Watch Program will take on many forms including:

• Meth Watch promotional materials directed at educating retailers about the ingredients used to manufacture methamphetamine, so that suspicious sales and diversion of ingredients can be limited. 
• Teaching pharmacy and retail staff how to deal with sales of unusual quantities of the drugs and other substances used to produce crystal methamphetamine.
• An interactive on-line learning program for retailers and the general public.
• Educational programs to heighten awareness regarding the methamphetamine problem. 

How Meth Watch Works
Participating retailers will strategically post Meth Watch signs and tags on their doors and windows, around their cash registers and on the shelves where precursor products are located.   Retailers may even chose to impose purchase limits to prevent high volume sales.  Retailers will train their employees to recognize but not to confront, suspicious customers, and to report suspicious purchases to law enforcement officials through a toll-free hotline provided for this purpose by the RCMP. 

“As a manufacturer that uses pseudoephedrine hydrochloride (one of 50 crystal meth precursors) in our cold, flu and allergy products, it is important for us to be part of this group advancing a solution to this growing problem.  We want to deter the purchase of these products to potential abusers but still make them available to consumers who use these products responsibly in treating their cold, flu and allergy symptoms”, states Stephanie Haverstick, Vice President, Quality & Compliance at Vita Health Products.  “We are confident that the programs put in place by the Meth Watch coalition should have the desired affect”.

Similar Meth Watch programs have launched in 22 U.S. states with much success.  In North Dakota, the measures implemented by their coalition seem to be working. State officials say that meth production in North Dakota is down 40 per cent this year.  (CBC Manitoba, August 31, 2004).  The Meth Watch Program developed the web-based training and in-store materials, and implementation in participating Western Canadian retail outlets will begin in early 2005.