METH LABS SPREADING ACROSS THE STATE

Serious Problem For Western Kentucky Has Come To Bluegrass

LONDON - When sheriff's deputies in Laurel County stopped a car in January
after a report that the occupants had a gun, they found several ingredients
needed to make methamphetamine.

The case shows how easy it is to make a batch of the illegal drug: the
three young people in the car had gotten the recipe for meth off the
Internet, using a computer at the public library in Somerset, and bought
the ingredients at area retail stores, said Buddy Blair, chief deputy for
the Laurel County Sheriff's Department.

The case also shows that meth production, once concentrated in the western
part of the state, is becoming a statewide problem. While police are
gearing up with increased training and equipment to fight the drug, they
say it's likely to become an even bigger problem as it moves east.

"It's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better," Blair said.

Methamphetamine, also called "speed" or "crank," can be eaten, smoked,
snorted or injected. It has become a major drug problem in Kentucky because
it's so easy to make, is highly addictive and has great potential for profit.

Meth production was once the province of biker gangs, with production
centered in California. Making it required chemicals that could be hard to get.

In the 1980s and '90s, however, meth "cookers" worked out methods to make
the drug using chemicals and products available at retail stores, such as
cold and allergy medicines, drain cleaner and starter fluid. The equipment
for a lab is portable and small enough to fit in a car trunk.

Production spread from the West Coast, becoming a major problem in parts of
the Midwest and South and moving into Kentucky.

The number of meth cases in the state has jumped in the last few years. In
1996, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration counted six labs seized; the
number last year was 141, said Capt. Mike Sapp, head of the state police
Drug Enforcement/Special Investigations office for Western Kentucky.

Sapp said there may actually have been more labs found, because there is
some underreporting.

"They're increasing every day," he said.

Criminal charges logged in the state court system also show the increase.
The number went up from 410 in fiscal year 1999 to 839 in fiscal year 2000,
state police said.

Many of those cases were in Western Kentucky, which is a major farming
area. One of the ingredients of meth, anhydrous ammonia, is plentiful
because it is a fertilizer.

Cheyenne Albro, head of the Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force based in
Madisonville, said the task force worked 200 meth cases in its area last
year. Meth, selling for $1,200 to $1,800 an ounce, has replaced powder
cocaine in the region, he said.

"It's like an explosion when it hits the area," Albro said.

Meth production has become such a concern in Western Kentucky that Congress
authorized funding for a new U.S. Attorney's office in Paducah, and
ministers have been asked to use their pulpits to warn of the dangers of
meth. The McLean County school district set up a committee to study drug
issues, including whether to do random drug tests of student-athletes and
perhaps students who to drive to school, because of concerns over meth and
other substances, said Superintendent Earl Melloy.

In the meantime, production of the drug continues to move toward Central
and Eastern Kentucky.

Dave Gilbert, deputy director for the Kentucky section of the three-state
Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area based in London, said the
number of meth labs in the eastern part of the state was up last year.

"We've seen a surge from the west," Gilbert said.

State police in Hazard found the first meth labs in the post area within
the last few months, said Capt. Danny Webb.

Gilbert said local police have reported an increase in shoplifting tied to
meth, as people steal ingredients.

Some retailers have moved to limit purchases of some items, and have moved
the products where employees and surveillance cameras can keep a better eye
on them. Retailers also call police about attempts to buy large amounts of
products needed to make meth.

Methamphetamine causes an intense high and a sense of increased energy,
according to the DEA, but also frequently results in violent behavior.

Chronic abuse reportedly causes paranoia, hallucinations and health
problems ranging from tooth loss and skin sores to serious kidney, lung and
brain damage.

Making it also poses hazards. Some ingredients are highly flammable; police
find many meth labs because of explosions and fires. There have been cases
of injuries to meth cookers in Western Kentucky, and also to police exposed
to the chemicals, Albro said.

Meth also causes environmental problems.

The chemicals and solvents left over after production an estimated five to
six pounds for each pound of the finished drug are considered hazardous
wastes, requiring special equipment for cleanup and expensive disposal in
approved landfills. Meth production contaminates the area where the cooks
work, and can pollute soil and water sources.

"It's a toxic waste dump," said Michael D. Pratt, an assistant
commonwealth's attorney in Laurel County who helps prosecute cases for the
Appalachia HIDTA.

Albro said it cost taxpayers $197,000 to clean up meth labs in Western
Kentucky in 1999.

State police built special decontamination trailers to respond to meth lab
sites, and trained officers to do cleanup.

Local police also are training to deal with meth, and the DEA is providing
training to "first responders" such as firefighters who may be called to
the scene of a meth lab and may not know the fire or other emergency was
caused by meth.

Sapp said he also would like to provide training for all public service
workers who go to people's homes, such as phone company employees, for
their own protection.

Gilbert said it would also help if the state had more drug courts, so meth
addicts could be directed into treatment. Increased anti-drug education is
also needed, he said, because part of the long-term solution is to cut
demand for illegal drugs.

"If you don't have the markets, you won't have the producers," he said.