ALLEGAN COUNTY CURBS METH USE

ALLEGAN COUNTY -- Within just a few years, this county had earned an
unflattering reputation.

Some called it the "meth capital of Michigan" because of the soaring
number of clandestine labs that cropped up five years ago, most in
rural areas where makeshift cooking operations might go unnoticed.

The reputation still lingers, but the methamphetamine problems are
beginning to fade under a full-press attack by police, social workers
and legislators.

"I think Allegan County had a black eye for a while," said Allegan
City Police Chief Rick Hoyer, a member of a countywide meth task force
formed five years ago. "Now, it's time we do get out and say things
are getting better.

"It's not time to pound our chests in victory," he said. "We're
dealing with an addiction after all, and people will find something
else to use."

But police and court officials in Allegan County -- an area that
became ground zero for state resources to fight meth -- are seeing
fewer arrests, fewer labs and success in programs to help former meth
users stay off the highly addictive drug.

In 2002, when the task force began, 53 labs were busted in Allegan
County, according to state police statistics. That number has dropped
to just nine so far this year.

Only in Kalamazoo County have meth labs been more pervasive in
Michigan, and numbers are on the decline there as well.

Allegan County District Judge Joe Skocelas credits a 2-year-old law
that put the cold medication pseudoephedrine behind the counter and
limited sale volume to individuals. Pseudoephedrine is a key
ingredient in meth, with few alternatives for meth makers.

"The laws have made it harder to get that ingredient," Skocelas
said.

"People are still coming through the court system. We get them every
once in a while," he said. "You maybe can get eight or 10 of your
friends together, send them out with a shopping list to buy
pseudoephedrine, then make meth. But it's not as easy as before."

Allegan County Sheriff Blaine Koops described the meth problem as
being "way down."

But the county is not ready to dismantle its meth-fighting programs,
he said. In fact, it will use a $440,000 federal grant awarded in
September to expand a meth diversion program that, so far, has helped
12 people kick their meth habit.

Part of the expansion, to start in January, will look at ways to keep
people from gravitating into meth use from "gateway" drugs, such as
alcohol and marijuana.

Allegan County's trouble with meth dates to 1998, when police
uncovered one lab. Authorities believe people coming from rural parts
of Arkansas, Kentucky and Missouri introduced the drug to the area
around that time.

In subsequent years, police began finding makeshift labs in homes, car
trunks, hotel rooms, basements and backyards -- any place suitable to
blend the mixture of mostly household chemicals needed to make meth.

The pseudoephedrine restrictions proved just one way to battle the
problem. A few years ago, farmers began adding a pink dye to their
anhydrous ammonia tanks to discourage people from stealing the
ammonia, another meth ingredient. The dye stains anything it touches,
and meth-makers stay away.

Judges also began handing down harsh sentences for meth
makers.

Lt. Tony Saucedo, commander of a state police meth investigation team,
said meth isn't likely to disappear, because it's being smuggled into
the state from labs in Mexico and Canada where ingredients are not as
heavily regulated.

"You still have the users. The product is still out there," he
said.

Hoyer, the Allegan city police chief, believes fewer young people are
using meth, partly because of a public information campaign showing
the disastrous health effects on users. Meth destroys teeth and leaves
users with the urge to scratch their skin, often creating sores.

Longtime users sometimes look aged well beyond their
years.

"One of the things we wanted to stress with young people was the
vanity issue, what it does to your skin and teeth and body," Hoyer
said. "I think that was pretty important."