"It's hard to describe the feeling, but the house is rarely unanimous on things, and to see all the members rising in support of a bill you've been working on for a few months is really very exciting," said Weston. "There were MPs from all corners of the house giving me the thumbs up and smiling - it's a real team effort."

Third and final reading is the final stage in the House of Commons before the piece of legislation is sent to the Senate. Weston said he is working to push the system as quickly as possible.

"Speed is everything because if you move slowly an election intervenes and everything dies on the order paper," he said.

Targeted ingredients in the bill include meth's precursor chemicals, such as pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, which are commonly found in over-the-counter cold medications, as well as acetone, rubbing alcohol and iodine.

West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky MP John Weston once again reveled in uniting a rarely harmonious House of Commons during a presentation of his private member's bill Friday ( May 7 ) that would hinder the purchase of legal substances for the manufacturing of crystal meth.

Friday's debate was the beginning of third reading, the final stage of debate in the House of Commons before the piece of legislation is voted on again and sent to the Senate.

During his 15-minute presentation, Weston pointed to a chance encounter to illustrate how "the stars aligned" to make the bill a reality.

"I was on a flight from Ottawa to Vancouver when I chanced to sit next to a board member for [the Baldy Hughes Addiction Treatment Centre in Prince George], Kevin England, who proceeded to add to and encourage the efforts of the great team of people who support the bill," said Weston.

"When we meet strangers on flights who provide informed support for a legislative initiative, we know the stars are aligned and the idea is one whose time has come."

Targeted ingredients in the bill include meth's precursor chemicals, such as pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and Sudafed, which are commonly found in over-the-counter cold medications, as well as acetone, rubbing alcohol and iodine.

A private member’s bill from West Vancouver’s MP that aims to make crystal meth harder to manufacture has passed the House of Commons by unanimous consent.

Bill C-475 amends Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to make it illegal to possess, produce, sell or import chemicals with the knowledge they will be used to create crystal meth or ecstasy, and threatens violators with a prison term of up to 10 years.

The legislation, introduced by West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky country MP John Weston Wednesday, passed second reading in the House of Commons 287-0.

“I’m just delighted,” said Weston. “People whose lives have been ruined or whose family members or friends have been ruined wanted something to be done.”

A similar bill was tabled by Peace River MP Chris Warkentin in 2007, but died when an election was called.

"Shrinking the distance" between John Weston's far-flung B.C. riding and Ottawa has been one of the major themes of the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country Member of Parliament's first full year in office.

First elected in October 2008, the Conservative MP said in a wide-ranging year-end interview last week that while he's had the honour of going on two major international trips in 2009 - including Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent sojourn to China, Hong Kong and South Korea - he has enjoyed the challenge of what he termed standing "the pyramid" on its head and allowing communities to take a leading role in setting his agenda.

Weston's bill goes further than another similar bill put forward by Peace River MP Chris Warkentin that died on the table as a result of last year's snap election. Weston's bill allows for conditional sentences for offenders, while expanding its scope to include ecstasy.

"The Attorney General asked me if I would introduce this bill, and I leapt on it because I feel it speaks to the needs of the people in our riding and what I'm hearing from educators, coaches and others," said Weston. "There is a lot of public awareness and concern over these two drugs."

As a father of three, Weston said he is concerned that youth are particularly vulnerable.

"Kids who experience these drugs can drop out of school. In some cases their futures are ruined, they end up on the streets in some cases. There are families that have been destroyed. Some embark on criminal careers to support their habits. And no family is immune, no matter what demographic group they belong to or their economic class."

City council is looking at a Controlled Substance Property Remediation bylaw that would authorize certain city officials right of entry and inspection, and forward the charge of the drug cleanup to the owners.

Local RCMP Inspector Eric Stubbs and Const. Tim Russell explained the reasoning behind setting up the bylaw at a city council meeting Aug. 10.

Stubbs said the bylaw would deal with health risks the properties pose to the community in manufacturing the controlled substances, and eliminate the cleanup cost to taxpayers.

He highlighted the meth lab bust in the basement of a residence on the 4700 block of Scott Ave. last year as an example.

"Dismantling these types of operations pose a number of risks to both the occupiers of those residences, as well as their neighbours, as well as...those enforcing search warrants," he said.

"Illicit drug production is the No. 1 source of income for gangs and organized crime," said Nicholson after touring a mock grow-op at the fire department's training facility. The fake pot plants were green plastic bags sitting on bamboo stems.

"Drug labs and grow-ops . threaten the safety of B.C.'s neighbourhoods and particularly our children."

Insp. Brad Desmaris, of Vancouver's gangs and drug squad, said police find families with children living in grow-ops and meth labs about 30 per cent of the time.

Nicholson met with groups like the Vancouver Board of Trade to gain support for Bill C-15.

About half of the 600-odd Alberta teens ordered by the courts into detox each year eventually agree to move into voluntary treatment programs to try to break their addiction.

"That's not a bad number. Is it great? No. Could it be better? Absolutely," says Calgary MLA Heather Forsyth, a champion of the Protection of Children Abusing Drugs Act which allows parents to go to court to force their kids into detox.

On Monday council approved a Public Safety Initiative that will see the creation of a multi-agency team to initiate inspections of properties based on complaints and other indicators of potential safety hazards, such as building structure modified without proper authorization or records of unusually high power consumption.

A new unit of Alberta sheriffs will target drug houses across the province starting today.

But the 14-member team won't try to arrest drug dealers, Solicitor General Fred Lindsay said Tuesday in the Alberta Avenue neighbourhood.

Instead, investigators will focus on stopping the activity, either through informal agreements with landowners or with 90-day court orders to shut down the properties.

Christy Morin lived beside a mice-infested meth house for two and a half years. She and her husband could look out their bedroom window and watch the residents cooking crystal meth in their kitchen.