U.S. METH-LAB HORRORS

EVERETT, Wash. -- Sgt. John Flood parks his 4X4 outside a boarded-up home
in a quiet neighbourhood about 100 metres from a church.

On the garage door of the tan rancher someone has written in black marker,
"No meth here."

In Everett, state restrictions on the sale of ingredients used to make meth
have slowed the spread of so-called "super labs."

In their place, a veritable forest of mini-labs, or so-called "Beavis and
Butthead" operations, has sprung up.

The tan rancher was a "Butthead" operation. A man moved in after his
grandmother died, started a lab in the basement, was turned in by relatives
and came back to torch the house to erase the evidence.

The house is now condemned, the man is in jail and his family is stuck with
the cleanup bill.

Flood and his colleagues on the Snohomish county task force kicked in the
doors of 95 meth labs like this in 2003, 51 in the county in 2004.

(Meth-lab raids peaked in Washington in 2001, with 1,800. Last year, police
took down about 1,350. In B.C. by contrast, the RCMP in 2004 raided 19 labs.)

In B.C., individual police organizations take out labs in their own areas.
The Snohomish task force, formed in response to an alarming proliferation
of labs in the late '90s and early '00s, is an all-in-one force.

The team does it all -- raids and cleanup. State authorities pick up the
garbage for safe disposal.

Flood's truck roars down the driveway at another boarded-up meth lab just
30 seconds away. This one is within spitting distance of a firehall, in
what was once a family home. Neighbours peer into the yard, checking Flood
out. A deputy found this operation when he came to evict a tenant.

At the derelict house overlooking the train tracks by the Snohomish River,
it's plain to see why the neighbours are so vigilant.

Flood steps into the front room, his flashlight beam slicing into dank,
filth-strewn corners.

Two televisions, a sealed jug of some unidentified yellow liquid, garbage
and dishes heaped in the sink. The place is due for demolition. Flood
climbs back into the truck, giving the place one last look in his rear view
mirror.

"There is no saving it," he sighs.

The Province is holding four community forums on the subject of
crystal-meth abuse. Medical experts, victims, police, families and addicts
will talk about prevention and treatment and answer questions from the
audience. The first forum is in Kamloops on April 26. There will be a forum
in Victoria on May 2, in Surrey on May 3 and in Vancouver on May 5. For
details, go to:
www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/features/crystalmeth/index.html