METH TRAFFIC

HERMISTON -- Welcome to Umatilla County, home to watermelons,
potatoes, rodeos and methamphetamine labs.

Umatilla County had 47 methamphetamine labs busted in 2002, the fifth
most in the state. More chilling, perhaps, is the number of labs per
capita: one for every 1,500 people in the county.

Multnomah County, the state's most populous, had one lab for every
8,000 people. According to the 2000 census, Multnomah County has
660,486 residents; Umatilla County just 70,548.

Through October of this year, the county is ranked second in meth labs
seized, just behind Washington County. So far, 55 meth labs were
busted in Umatilla County. And the county has achieved the dubious
honor of having the most meth labs per capita in the state so far this
year.

Drug hub for points east

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"For a county that size, the amount these guys see rivals any
metropolitan area on the West Coast," said Lt. Ray Duman, criminal
detective for the eastern region for the Oregon State Police.

Methamphetamine is fast becoming the drug of choice in this rural
Northeastern Oregon county, reflecting a kind of microcosm of the
epidemic that's spreading across the country, police said.

In Umatilla County and elsewhere, police agencies, treatment programs
and child welfare agencies say they are feeling the crunch as they try
to deal with the fallout.

Methamphetamine is cheap and easy to make -- and it's highly
addictive.

Rural areas have been particularly hard hit because some of the
ingredients used in the manufacture of the drug are routinely used in
agriculture, such as anhydrous ammonia. Other ingredients can be found
in over-the-counter medicines.

The problem is not just the mostly mom-and-pop meth lab operations
that have sprouted up around Umatilla County.

A lot of methamphetamine from Mexico and Southern California moves
through Umatilla County on the area's web of interstates and rural
highways, police said. Interstates 82 and 84 intersect in the county,
and Highway 395 runs from Washington south through the area to
California. A plethora of rural highways criss-cross the area as well.

"It's a hub of rural highways that connect to other states," said Sgt.
Craig Durbin, manager of the Oregon State Police Drug Enforcement Section.

From Umatilla County, methamphetamine distributors can easily travel
to Washington, Idaho and points east. Duman said he's heard of
methamphetamine distributed from the county being seized as far away
as Chicago and Minnesota.

"It's our opinion we do have a distribution center here," Duman said.
"It's like the Wal-Mart Distribution Center up there."