VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Canadian police on Sunday disputed claims by the U.S. drug czar that organized crime rings in Canada are dumping dangerous, methamphetamine-laced ecstasy into the United States.
John Walters, who heads the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, recently released a statement warning public health and safety officials of the dangers posed by turbo-charged ecstasy from Canada.
The head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's national drug branch said Sunday he did not know why Walters would issue the statement without checking facts with Canadian officials.
"I shook my head when I read the release that they put out," said RCMP Supt. Paul Nadeau.
Walters' office did not immediately return a call seeking comment Sunday.
The statement issued earlier this month warns public health officials about a "dangerous new drug threat coming from Canada." Walters said that progress in limiting ecstasy availability is in "jeopardy of being rolled back by Canadian criminal organizations."
Nadeau said there's nothing new about ecstasy being laced with methamphetamine or other stimulants and that it has been happening for the last decade.
He said that while the RCMP is concerned about drugs being smuggled into the United States, he disputes information in the release that he says is falsely attributed to the RCMP.
The statement said Canadian drug police estimated the production capacity of Canadian ecstasy laboratories at over two million tablets per week. "We have no idea where they came up with that," Nadeau said.
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