New staff, equipment and money halves P backlog

Three new scientists, $650,000 for new equipment and improved laboratories and better liaison with the Courts and Police are all paying off as the number of outstanding clandestine methamphetamine (P) laboratory cases being processed by ESR is halved.

There are currently 89 cases awaiting processing, down from 180 at the beginning of the year. If current trends continue, the backlog will be down to a normal caseload by 01 July 2005.

"This is a great result by ESR, and especially the new scientists that have recently joined the team from Canada and the United States," said Minister for Crown Research Institutes, Pete Hodgson. "ESR's success reflects this government's determination to get on top of the fight against the illicit drugs that do so much to destroy the lives of individuals and damage our communities. This was underlined in May when the government announced $39 million over four years to combat P."

The new equipment includes three state of the art testing machines; two gas chromatograph mass spectrometers and a Fourier transformation infrared spectrophotometer. The first of these will put into the front line in the fight against P by Pete Hodgson today.