FEWER METH LABS, BUT DRUGS STILL HERE

State Has Locked Up Cold Medicine

For the first time in years, the number of methamphetamine labs seized
in Ohio has dropped sharply, a move authorities link to stores locking
away cold medications.

Investigators say meth remains the state's fastest-growing street
drug. But instead of making meth in labs, dealers have set up supply
pipelines from California and Mexico to the Midwest.

"The labs might be going away, but the addicts aren't, and we know
that," said Capt. Hylton Baker, leader of the Summit County drug unit.

Drug agents seized 444 labs in fiscal 2005, which ended Sept. 30 of
that year, according to statistics that counties provided to the
attorney general's office.

This year, police took down 243 labs.

Some counties say they didn't report all of the labs they seized, but
the unreported numbers are small.

The steep decline in Ohio reflects a nationwide trend, authorities
say. Since 2004, local drug enforcement agencies have reported a 27
percent drop in the number of labs seized, according to the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration.

California, for instance, saw a 39 percent decline, the DEA
reported.

In Ohio, Summit County has long been the state's meth capital. In
fiscal 2005, drug agents raided 82 labs. This year, they found 70.

Baker, the Summit drug unit's leader, said the numbers in his county
will continue to drop. He said the county passed a law in 2004 to keep
pseudoephedrine products off store shelves and locked behind counters.

In May, a state law went into effect that required all of Ohio's
stores and pharmacies to do the same. A person who purchases the drug
must show identification.

"That law has helped tremendously," said Capt. Dennis Cavanaugh,
leader of the Lorain County Drug Task Force. "Are we naive enough to
think that it is all gone? Of course not."

The cold medication is the key ingredient in making methamphetamine.
By mixing it with common household materials and anhydrous ammonia or
red phosphorus, a dealer forms a highly addictive drug that wrecks the
central nervous system.

Prosecutors are demanding harsher prison sentences. In rural Scioto
County, prosecutors seek a minimum of four years in prison for a
person caught with several of the drug's ingredients, even if they
have not made any meth, drug agents say.

Taking cold medicine off the shelves has worked, authorities said, but
they are concerned that dealers will not stop altogether.

"They're working like the devil to find a way to make methamphetamine
without using some of these products," said John Germ of the Lake
County Narcotics Agency.