MORE PEOPLE THAN EVER COOK METH

When the Washington County narcotics unit searched a home in Willernie in
July, officers found a "grocery list" for methamphetamine:

"Zylene, paint thinner, distilled water, rock salt and one gallon jar of
pickles."

With the growth in the number of meth labs in Minnesota, the first four
items together are becoming nearly as familiar as the last. The state is on
pace to double last year's record of 138 lab seizures: Authorities have
taken 165 labs in the first seven months of this year.

"That's a pretty significant increase," said Skip Van Patten, assistant
special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
district office in Minneapolis. In addition, there has been an increase in
seizures of the drug from out of state, with quantities as high as 12 pounds.

The reluctant leader of the meth lab trend statewide is Washington County,
which has the largest percentage growth in lab seizures of any county, DEA
figures show.

The Washington County sheriff's narcotics unit seized four meth labs there
from 1994 to 2000, Van Patten said. In the first seven months of this year,
the county narcotics unit seized seven labs. Those numbers still don't
compare to Anoka County, with 24 labs to date this year. But the growth is
daunting, local experts say.

The number of larger-scale labs statewide has increased as well, according
to "Drug Abuse Trends: Minneapolis/St. Paul Area -- June 2001," by Carol
Falkowski, director of research communications at Hazelden Foundation. One
lab had stockpiled more than 2 kilos of over- the-counter cold products
containing ephedrine, a main ingredient of meth.

"The bottom line is, more people are cooking meth than ever have," said
Sgt. Patrick Olson of the Washington County Sheriff's narcotics unit.
"They're doing it right in residential areas, apartments, with no concern
for anybody else." Methamphetamine labs produce hazardous waste and can
explode.

IMPROVED AWARENESS

Olson and others are quick to note that lab-seizure statistics can mean
that there are more new labs, or that more of the existing labs are being
unearthed -- or both.

For example, the drop in seizures in Sherburne County, from 14 in 2000 to
seven so far this year, is partly due to re-assigning some narcotics
officers to a longer-term project, Sheriff Bruce Anderson said.

Methamphetamine accounts for more than 70 percent of the narcotics team's
work, Anderson said.

Meth has been popular long enough that officers are arresting second-
generation addicts, he added.

Anoka County appears to be the busiest meth-producing county in Minnesota,
with at least 57 labs since 1994. The pace of growth compares to the
statewide trend -- officers seized eight meth labs in 1999, 25 last year
and 24 to date this year.

The Anoka/Hennepin narcotics task force has uncovered labs in homes,
hotels, manufactured homes and apartments, and has found portable labs in
cars, said Lt. Rob Bredsten, task force coordinator.

One home lab seized earlier this year filled half a basement with a
sophisticated collection of fans and beakers, he said.

As meth gained a hold in Minnesota, law enforcement officers faced a
learning curve -- learning to recognize the drug, training people to handle
lab seizures, educating retailers on products used to make meth, and
teaching the public to spot labs.

Those efforts are helping, said Olson, with Washington County. "People
being more aware of what's going on is what's making the difference," he
said. "We don't have an epidemic (in Washington County). We have a problem."

Still, he acknowledged, "It's staggering how much this has changed (in
eight years). It was not long ago that you never heard of anyone with a
pound of meth, and now you hear it all the time."

HEALTH EFFECTS

Meth isn't kind to its biggest fans.

Ramsey and Hennepin Counties combined reported five meth-related deaths in
1995 and 17 in 2000, Falkowski reported in the June edition of "Drug Abuse
Trends: Minneapolis/St. Paul Area -- June 2001." It lags well behind
alcohol, marijuana and cocaine in admissions to drug treatment programs in
a five-county metro area.

However, the numbers don't include outstate deaths or treatment admissions,
which could provide a more complete picture of the drug's impact, she said.

Olson doesn't need statistics to know meth destroys addicts. "I've been in
interviews where they'll pull teeth right out of their head," he said. "It
turns people into monsters. It gets hold of them and it won't let them go."

And when you see the grocery list, it's no wonder, said an undercover
officer with Washington County's narcotics unit. Ingredients can include
denatured alcohol, anhydrous ammonia, sulfuric acid and brake cleaner.

This is what the undercover officer marvels at: "They know what they put in
it and they still use it."