NEBRASKA SEES INCREASE IN METH LABS

It was bound to happen sooner or later.

Nebraska law enforcement officials are turning up more methamphetamine labs
after seeing them proliferate in neighboring states for several years.

"It's a consensus of all law enforcement that there's a tremendous meth
problem in all of our areas," said Nancy Martinez, state program
coordinator for the six-state High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
Nebraska is included with the Dakotas, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.

Martinez said HIDTA, which coordinates federal, state and local officers to
respond to hazardous meth labs, has recorded 11 meth labs discoveries in
January, exceeding a quarter of the total labs found in 2000.

"I don't expect it to decrease at all," said Martinez

The unsophisticated, highly portable labs are hazardous, endangering the
meth cooks and anyone nearby. So far, she said only meth cooks have been
injured by their own chemicals.

The Nebraska State Patrol is getting numerous calls, said Terri Teuber, the
patrol's public information coordinator. As one investigator put it, she
said, "We are getting so much intelligence information about the existence
of meth labs we can't even keep up with the calls."

Nebraska's numbers don't compare with Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, Teuber
said, at least not yet. "We aren't fooling ourselves. It could be headed
our way and is clearly on the rise in Nebraska."

Martinez said the rise in lab discoveries has a silver lining - it is
serving as a wake-up call to the public. The real problem, she said, is the
drug pipeline of Interstate 80, where hundreds of pounds of meth regularly
pass through the state. Much of it comes from Mexico and the Southwest.

Indeed, imported meth - as cheap as cocaine and more powerful - explains
why more meth labs haven't been found.

"We don't have as many labs because we have such a tremendous importation,
such a large quantity," Martinez said. "Hundreds of pounds. That's what we
seize. And we're getting the not-very-clever ones."

Most labs are small-time, producing only enough of the drug for the meth
cooks and a few others. The Nebraska labs haven't followed the expected
pattern, with most of them in and around Lincoln and Omaha, not in remote
rural farmhouses as expected.

"In theory that's what we expected and why we found so much in the Ozarks,"
Martinez said. "Cooking meth is a smelly process. In Nebraska almost all of
the labs have been in the suburbs and subdivisions, in nice homes. (The
rural pattern) doesn't seem to be holding true."

Martinez said that unlike other neighboring states, Nebraska had some lead
time to respond with public awareness campaigns.

HIDTA started in 1996 with $8 million in federal funds. Nebraska's share,
$1 million, has helped to train and equip 97 officers for four Clandestine
Lab Teams across the state.

Whenever a suspected lab is found, the nearest trained experts are called
in. For example, recent Cass County busts were handled by officers from the
Omaha Police Department; Lincoln police and the Nebraska State Patrol's
experts handled recent Lancaster County labs.

Training costs about $1,000 per officer and equipment costs more. Martinez
said Nebraska officials recently received another $525,000 in federal
grants to pay for special vehicles and breathing apparatus for entering
meth labs. Another 30 officers are scheduled to receive special meth lab
training this spring.

Martinez said the response to meth has brought law enforcement - federal,
state and local - together for the fight.

"It's really improved the intelligence sharing across the state," Martinez said.