CITY METH LAB PUTS FOCUS ON GROWING TREND

Producers Turning Out 'Most Dangerous Drug In America'

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told a group of district attorneys
last year that methamphetamine is "now the most dangerous drug in
America." What lawmakers are dubbing a national meth epidemic is
taking hold in the Southern Tier.

While meth use is still uncommon locally when compared to other
drugs, the recent fatal explosion in a makeshift meth laboratory in
Binghamton highlights the growing problem and its consequences. The
Conklin Avenue explosion on Tuesday came on the heels of four meth
lab raids in the Southern Tier earlier in the week.

"When I see these meth labs being found, I'm surprised that we don't
see more than we do," Michelle Napolitano, executive director of
Fairview Recovery Services in Binghamton. "It seems like there's a
lot of people that are using it."

Technology is in part to blame.

"Learning to make methamphetamine is not difficult. There are
hundreds of recipes on the Internet for manufacture, as well as
guidebooks to help the beginner," says a 2005 report published by the
U.S. Department of Justice. "Even frequently asked questions and
advice on converting operations into larger-scale production centers
are included."

Most of the local meth producers, Tioga County Sheriff's Deputy Tim
Jewell noted, operate small-scale or portable "suitcase" labs, like
the one police uncovered in Johnson City in January. In many
instances, meth users will attempt to cook the drug to satisfy their
own addiction - either smoking or injecting their profits.
Large-scale meth laboratories like the ones plaguing the West and
Southwest haven't penetrated the Southern Tier, according to the
Department of Justice.

Most of the ingredients for producing meth, though toxic when
combined, are easily accessible. State police dressed in protective,
full-body hazardous materials carried dozens of cans of starter
fluid, dismantled lithium batteries and packages of cold medicine
from the charred Conklin Avenue home last week. The explosion killed
28-year-old Joshua S. Lamberg.

Police suspect Lamberg had been operating a lab out of his
girlfriend's Conklin Avenue home. His girlfriend, 25-year-old April
M. Tambeau, has been charged with second-degree criminal possession
of a controlled substance, fourth-degree criminal possession of
stolen property, felonies, and fourth-degree criminal possession of
a weapon, a misdemeanor.

While most meth labs pop up in rural locations where the toxic odors
that stem from the manufacture are more easily concealed, production
isn't limited to the country. Jewell said the locations of the
laboratories merely depend on where the users call home.

"It's just where a particular cook may live," Jewell said. "They're
going to cook in that safe zone. If they feel they can get away with
it, they're going to try. They feel safe in their home area."

Along with the risk of explosion, meth production releases a cloud of
poisonous fumes and leaves behind toxic waste. Producing 1 pound of
meth creates 5 to 6 pounds of toxic waste, according to the
Department of Justice. State police closed the block on Conklin
Avenue for more than 24 hours last week as police, Department of
Environmental Conservation officers and private haulers carted away
the poisonous byproducts.

A CRIPPLING ADDICTION

Methamphetamine triggers the release of neurotransmitters in the
brain such as dopamine and serotonin, creating hours of sleepless
euphoria. "From what people say, the initial period of use with the
dopamine dump in your brain is such a pleasurable high that you're
lured back to it," Jewell said.

The drug also delivers extended anxiety, sleeplessness and paranoia.
It causes long-term damage to a person's brain, hindering memory,
causing violent mood swings, impaired motor coordination and
depression, according to the Department of Justice study.

"Once they're addicted (to meth), it's a horrible addiction," said
Barry Schecter, an Owego drug counselor. "I've seen it ruin lives."

In the 1980s, meth use was largely confined to the West, the federal
government reports. The drug spread slowly east, appearing in the
Midwest during the 1990s, and started to take hold in the Northeast
only recently.

Between 1989 and 1998, police raided five meth labs across the state.
Between 1999 and 2004, police uncovered 168 labs. Still, meth
arrests, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, were lower
in the Northeast - at 198 arrests in 2003 - than any other region in
the country.

Locally, law enforcement officials have said, the number of meth
abusers in the Southern Tier is much lower than those who abuse
cocaine, alcohol and prescription drugs. "You just don't see it too
often," Broome County Sheriff's Office detective Lt. Michael Fedish
said of meth.

Schecter said that while he has seen several patients grappling with
meth addictions, the majority of addictions are to traditional drugs.
But in other parts of the country, meth has eclipsed the others as
the most dangerous drug. "You would find west of the Mississippi,
meth is a powerful, powerful problem," Schecter said.

A 2005 report from National Association of Counties found that of 500
police agencies surveyed across the nation, 58 percent cited meth as
their number-one drug problem. Of those agencies, 87 percent reported
an increase in meth-related arrests over the past three years.