THE METH EXPLOSION

County Hard Put To Cope With Proliferation Of Labs

It's like a scene from a B movie starring alien invaders and weird scientists.

Men in special white suits, yellow boots, rubber gloves and breathing
masks, all seams taped, all parts of their bodies covered.

One sits at a card table on an apartment patio making careful notes, while
another bends over a glass juice jar adorned with a smiling Mickey Mouse.
Next to the table, a red tricycle and a small child's pink-and-white
bicycle lie on the grass. Through the open sliding door, blue cloth-covered
furniture, brown shelves, knickknacks and pictures on the wall provide the
look of the average moderate-income apartment.

The apartment allegedly doubled as a clandestine drug laboratory, where
caustic chemicals and household cleaners were cooked into highly addictive
methamphetamine.

To the Snohomish Regional Narcotics Task Force and the Washington State
Patrol, it's a crime scene. To the Snohomish Health District, it's a
potentially contaminated site that may be unfit for habitation. To the
neighbors, it's an unwelcome aggravation.

The number of clandestine drug labs found in Snohomish County rose 62
percent from 1999 to 2000. That concerns law enforcement officials,
prosecutors, health officials, property owners and others who confront the
costs of dealing with the labs, including the hugely expensive cleanup
bills, toxic contamination, human health problems, increased criminal
activity and public danger.

This year so far, as of last week, the task force had responded to 13
illegal drug labs.

"We originally estimated we'd process between 48 and 72 meth-related calls
this year," task force Sgt. Mark Richardson said. "If we stay at the rate
we're at now, we'll hit well over 100."

That's three times the 34 labs processed in 2000.

At this lab, chemicals used to make methamphetamine were kept where a
toddler inside could get at them, agents said.

Task force commander Pat Slack and Sheriff Rick Bart are so concerned about
the local explosion in drug labs that they attended a meeting Thursday in
Seattle with sheriffs from other Washington counties with high
concentrations of drug labs. One of their concerns is that some of the
money used to combat meth labs may dry up as the Legislature reviews
drug-seizure laws that provide enforcement money from crime asset
forfeitures. The counties are seeking more money, Slack said.

The drug lab problem is growing so much that the Snohomish Health District
has added a half-time person to focus solely on meth labs, said Deanna
Colon, an environmental health specialist who waited for the drug agents
outside the apartment to finish so she could determine whether to declare
it unfit for use.

Cooking the chemicals inside can make places like the apartment
uninhabitable, and often leaves an innocent property owner stuck with a big
bill to decontaminate it.

Why such a big rise in drug labs?

"It's hard to speculate," Richardson said. "The public's becoming more
aware of what to look for; we're taking a larger role in addressing the
dangers and possibilities of methamphetamine manufacturing in the area."

Of all the illegal drugs available, "It's the most addicting animal that's
out there," Richardson said.

And most of the meth cooked up in the county is sold and used here, he said.

A major problem with ingesting meth is the buyer never knows exactly what's
in it.

"It's the kind of stuff that you clean your engine, your car parts with,
open clogged drains with. Those are the kinds of chemicals that are used to
make meth," Richardson said.

And meth cooks are constantly trying new methods with new chemicals.

Meth has become the county's drug of choice. Richardson reviews
drug-related patrol reports. Half of them involve meth, while the other
half are a combination of all the other illegal drugs available, he said.

Not all meth labs are as clean as the apartment raided last week. The
typical meth house is piled to the windows, inside and out, with garbage.
There usually is mouse or pet feces on the floor and "horrendous amounts of
filth," Richardson said.

"The smell is sometimes overwhelming for those who have a queasy stomach,"
he said.

They're also often the homes of young children.

"Kids seem to get in the way for drug dealers," Richardson said. "That was
our urgency on this last situation, because there was a child in there."

Many labs are in small outbuildings, garages, small trailers, car trunks or
even picnic coolers. That's why they're such a problem: They're highly
mobile and often hard to find.

Many chemicals used in a meth lab are toxic, sheriff's spokeswoman Jan
Jorgensen said. They can cause cancer, liver failure, brain damage, heart
failure, central nervous system failure, kidney failure, erratic behavior,
birth defects, violence and death in humans, Jorgensen said.

In addition, the chemicals contaminate buildings, plumbing and septic
systems, furniture, clothes, rugs, floors and walls, and the environment --
ground water, wells and air, she said.

People who suspect they've seen a drug lab should call 911 or the task
force tip line, Jorgensen said. They should note the location, and if it's
rural, possibly a landmark, as well as the amount of foot and vehicle
traffic to the lab, the times of day or night it is occupied, vehicle
license numbers, makes and models, any strange smells, and the identities
of anyone associated with the lab.

To report suspected drug activity, call the Snohomish Regional Narcotics
Task Force tip line at 425-388-3479.