METH IN AMERICA -- NOT IN OUR TOWN

While you hear a lot about Colombian cartels and Middle Eastern poppy
farmers, drug dealers in Mississippi are more likely to be good ol' Bubbas
cooking up methamphetamine in the kitchen.

That was the message Wednesday night in Meridian, as U.S. Rep. Chip
Pickering and Asa Hutchinson, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency,
hosted a forum for law enforcement officers.

"Meth is an epidemic that is sweeping the nation," Pickering said.

The visit was part of Hutchinson's 30-state "Meth in America - Not in Our
Town" tour. Hutchinson's goal is to raise public awareness, assess law
enforcement readiness and figure out ways the DEA can help.

"Mississippi is one of the top 10 producers of meth in the United States,"
Hutchinson said.

Meth sells on the street under names like "crystal," "ice" and "glass." It
works on the central nervous system, sparking a "rush" usually followed by
agitation, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse's Web site.

In the last five years the manufacture, distribution and sale of
methamphetamine rose to epidemic proportions, Hutchinson said, particularly
in rural communities lacking the resources and training to nab the
"cookers" - as makers of meth are called.

Meth is the No. 1 drug produced, distributed and sold in rural America.
Last year alone, law enforcement officers shut down 200 methamphetamine
labs in Mississippi, Pickering said.

Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie agreed.

"Three months ago, the drug task force busted a meth lab less than a mile
from a county school," Sollie said.

Meridian, Lauderdale County and Clark County share a 10-officer drug task
force, the East Mississippi Drug Task Force, trained at the Regional
Counter-Drug Training Academy.

RCTA teaches 38 civilian law enforcement courses that cover the basics of
narcotics investigation, drug identification and surveillance techniques,
RCTA Director Orrin Fuelling said.

From its facility at Naval Air Station Meridian, RCTA has trained 4,500
officers from five states - Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and
Mississippi. It operates on a $4.2 million federal budget, said RCTA
Counter-Drug Coordinator Earl Pierce.

"With better training, you have more success in prosecuting suspects under
the parameters of the law," Pierce said.

The ingredients needed to make methamphetamine are easily researched and
readily available. Meth labs are dangerous because of the possibility of
explosions; it takes trained law enforcement officers to dismantle them safely.