They're not getting much in the way of new money, but with a little reshuffling of current resources, the RCMP says it can make a significant dent in the world of illegal synthetic drugs.

Three members of the Conservative government were in town (Montreal) yesterday to announce the RCMP will head a new national program to prevent and combat the production of drugs such as methamphetamines and ecstasy.

"It's bringing together all the people to focus on this fight, to share information, and it's effectively, a way of organizing against the organized criminals," said Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, who was in town for the announcement along with Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and Daniel Petit, parliamentary secretary to the justice minister.

Canada is a world leader in the production of illegal synthetic drugs. In 2007, 20 per cent of drugs produced in drug labs in Canada were exported to other countries, primarily to the United States

"It's a question of working smarter, rather than harder," said Raf Souccar, the RCMP deputy commissioner of federal policing. "We're trying to work in a very integrative way by throwing everything we can at this problem. We'll work with Health Canada, so they can list the precursor ingredients of these drugs and make them illegal. ( The ministry of ) foreign affairs will help us with our discussions with India and China, for example, where all these pre-cursors are coming from."

Souccar said the RCMP will also work with other police forces, and will co-ordinate intelligence from all sources to target drug labs, which are usually based in major cities.

"It's a focus on a problem that is of great concern to us," Souccar said. "Methamphetamines are an extremely addictive and illegal drug."

Van Loan said the program will get some new money coming from the government's national anti-drug strategy, but he didn't know exactly how much.

He said yesterday's announcement is part of the Tory government's general tough-on-crime attitude.