CRACKDOWN SLOWS METH LABS

Sheriff: Mexican Ice, A Purer Form Of Methamphetamine, Takes Up Slack

Laws limiting the sale of cold medications containing
pseudoephedrine, a precursor to methamphetamine production, have
decreased the number of meth labs law enforcement finds in this area.

But a decrease in meth production doesn't seem to have slowed the drug scene.

"We're finding fewer labs, but we're still getting lots of meth
brought in from out of the county. I was talking to a guy last week,
a user and in the past a cook. He told me it's a lot harder to get
the chemicals to make it (meth) now and there aren't that many people
making it," said Bowie County Sheriff James Prince.

But the hottest new drug in the area has a cool name--ice.

"The product called ice, which is a more pure form of meth, we're
seeing more quantities of it than we were before. We're finding a lot
more of it, and we believe it's originating in Mexico. Even some
dealers who sold cocaine in the past are now selling ice," Prince said.

In McCurtain County, Okla., where the law limiting the sale of
pseudoephedrine-containing products was first enacted in 2004, law
enforcement officials are finding fewer meth labs but they, too, have
seen an increase in ice.

"We've seen a reduction in meth labs, but we're seeing more ice,"
said Sheriff Johnny Tadlock. "We get meth labs here and there but as
far as addressing the problem, the law has helped us tremendously."

Laws were enacted in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas in 2004 and 2005,
but there is a federal standard as of January 2006 that restricts the
amount of pseudoephedrine an individual may purchase in a designated
time period and requires such products be stored in a way to prevent theft.

Locally, pseudoephedrine-containing products are kept behind pharmacy
counters, and people are required to show a picture identification
and sign a ledger to purchase the products.

Charles Jackson, pharmacist manager at College Hill Drug, says they
have taken the law even a step further.

Charles Jackson, pharmacist manager at College Hill Drug, says they
have taken the law even a step further.

"We just make it simple here. They get one box every three days.
That's a package of 24. We have people sign the book after we see
their identification," Jackson said.

He said the laws have slowed down their sale of cold medications.

"We're not selling as much and we don't keep as much," Jackson said.

The new trend of bringing in ice, which is more complicated to cook
than regular meth, goes back to a more old-fashioned way of moving drugs.

"Ice is brought in and sold. Things are reverting back to the upper
level-type drug dealers where drugs go through two or three stages
before it hits the streets," Tadlock said.

People around here aren't accustomed to the strength of ice,
according to one law enforcement official.

"The only difference I'm seeing in it is people are trying to do as
much of ice as they do the cooked dope we have around here and
they're ending up in the emergency room," said Bowie County
Investigator Clay McClure.

Stopping addicts from using drugs seems like a losing battle.

Slowing the flow of drugs from one source apparently means another is
standing in line to replace it.

It's an unfortunate truth to the law of supply and demand.

"The bottom line is you've got people out there using dope, whether
they're cooking it or someone is bringing it in. ... It's been my
experience throughout my career when you make something impossible
for them to get, you have other chemists working together to figure
out some other way they can make something," Tadlock said. "As long
as there is a demand for drugs, there will be someone to figure out a
way to make something and get it out on the street."