MOBILE METH LABS SKIRT LAW

ASHEVILLE -- Even with North Carolina's success in cracking down on
methamphetamine labs, law enforcement officers say they're facing new
challenges in combating problems with the drug.

A dramatic drop in meth lab busts has yet to translate into a decline
in meth addictions.

Meth makers also have been moving labs quickly from one place to
another while finding ways to skirt a new state law restricting sales
of cold medications containing pseudoephedrine, the drug's primary
ingredient. Authorities so far this year have shut down 150 illegal
labs, down from 231 during the same period of 2005, according to the
N.C. State Bureau of Investigation.

Many of those busts came in Western North Carolina, primarily
Rutherford and McDowell counties.

State drug enforcement agents shut down a lab in Candler last week,
saying it was one of the larger operations they had seen in recent
months. Because of toxic chemicals used to make the drugs, cleaning up
labs is costly. State agents use private contractors to remove
materials, which can cost anywhere between $2,500 and $3,000.

The drop in meth lab busts follows passage of a state law requiring
that tablet forms of drugs containing pseudoephedrine be sold from
behind pharmacy counters. Customers must show identification and
register their names. The drug's liquid and gel-cap forms were not
restricted. They can be used in making meth, but it takes more time
and effort, said Mike Sheron, who covers 16 counties in Western North
Carolina with the SBI's Clandestine Laboratory Response program.

"We hope to someday get more strict on the gel caps or liquid form you
can buy over the counter," he said.

Sheron also said meth producers are learning how to become more mobile
with their labs and are often picking up and moving their operations
with much more ease. The increase in cheaper and more potent meth
created in "super labs" in Mexico and the western United States also
could change how the drug is distributed and bought in the region.

"You may see that trend, if people can buy it cheaper from people out
of the country," he said.

For treatment centers, a decrease in local meth labs might not
directly correlate with a decrease in meth users, especially with
access to cheap and powerful meth from foreign sources.

"The meth coming in from Mexico is often times a stronger content, but
some folks get used to what's cooked in their area," said Leslie
McCrory, the coordinator of a state grant program for meth treatment
in Buncombe County. In Western North Carolina, Buncombe, McDowell,
Caldwell, Watauga, Haywood, Macon and Rutherford counties received
$250,000 state grants in October for treatment programs.

McCrory said the grant program in Buncombe County was renewed this
month. She said she has seen a "steady stream of referrals" for the
program. "We still got the addict and the folks using meth, even
though we have the lab numbers going down," she said.

Social workers are consistently working with families affected by meth
addiction, said Becky Kessel, a program administrator at the Buncombe
County Department of Social Services.

At any one time in Buncombe County, staff are working on anywhere
between two and six cases involving meth use in a family.

She said DSS does not keep specific numbers on cases involving meth.
"I think it's been fairly steady," she said. "It's always something
that's on our radar because it's such a risk on children."