METH LABS FEED GROWING DEMAND

Methamphetamine production is surging in New Mexico and only a fraction is
intercepted, law enforcement officials told a congressional subcommittee
Monday.

Police and federal agents raided 57 clandestine labs in 1999, up from 29 in
1998 and 20 in 1997. Manufacture of the drug is rampant, and the Drug
Enforcement Administration has run out of money to pay for cleaning up the
toxic mess left behind by meth cookers, officials told the House Judiciary
Subcommittee on Crime.

More than 50 kilograms of meth , about 110 pounds , was seized in the state
last year, Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., said.

Wilson and Rep. Ed Pease, R-Ind., listened to about two hours of testimony
Monday from law enforcement officials, drug-treatment program leaders and
individuals hurt by the drug.

Methamphetamine, known as "crank" or "ice," is a form of speed that can be
easily produced from common chemicals and cold medicines such as
pseudoephedrine. The residue from methamphetamine manufacturing is
extremely toxic and potentially flammable because of the solvents used in
the process.

Sheriff Pete Golden of Torrance County told Wilson and Pease that the DEA
informed him it had no money to clean up the mess from two meth labs raided
recently in his county.

Golden said his officers raided six meth labs last year. "I feel we are
just touching the tip of the iceberg," Golden said. "I would venture to say
we have 100 labs in that county right now."

Wilson won approval of $750,000 last year to combat meth in New Mexico. The
money will be available in midsummer, she said.

The subcommittee hearing in Albuquerque was to help refine new legislation
to stiffen the penalties for meth traffickers and to pay for prevention and
treatment programs, Pease said.

In an interview, Wilson responded to Gov. Gary Johnson's appearance on "60
Minutes" by attacking his stand favoring drug legalization. "I think it is
possible to control drug use," she said. "Meth has a devastating impact on
families, communities and homeowners. I don't want that cost to rise."

The cost for one woman who testified included seeing her daughter become a
prostitute to feed her meth habit. Her daughter is in recovery programs and
attending the New Mexico College of Healing Arts.

"I pray you never hold a 2- or 3-year-old grandbaby in your arms at night
and hear them pray and ask God to help mommy or daddy quit doing drugs,"
she said.

Treatment program leaders and other officials provided figures that they
said show meth is the second-most-popular drug in New Mexico.

Bobby Sykes, director of Relevancy Inc., said that in 1996 his drug
treatment agency saw no meth addicts. Now, he said, 20 percent of his
clients use meth as the drug of choice.

"In its smokable form, it is much more devastating than crack cocaine," he
said. "Often the first use leads to severe addiction."

And Stan Whitaker, special commissioner for domestic violence in the
Bernalillo County District Court, said meth cases are some of the most violent.

In one case, he said, a young man attacked his mother with a fireplace
poker because he thought she was conspiring to turn him into police.

She required more than 250 stitches in her arms and head to close the
wounds, Whitaker said.

"There are only two drugs we know of that cause this kind of aggressive
behavior , steroids and methamphetamine," Whitaker said.