THE WEST'S METH EPIDEMIC

The rural West is being invaded by small-time operators cranking out
illegal methamphetamine and fouling the wide-open spaces with toxic
residues. Called "box labs" because all the equipment fits into a cardboard
box, clandestine meth labs are moving from trashy urban motels and trailer
parks to places like Montana's wheat-rich "Golden Triangle" or the Nebraska
Panhandle.

The meth trade, once dominated by outlaw biker gangs, now has gained a
cottage-industry segment, although most "crank" on the streets still comes
from Mexican super-labs.

The do-it-yourselfers tend to be addicts making the drug for themselves and
their circles of friends.

But these small operations are hardly benign: Meth labs can explode, fumes
contaminate the places where the labs are set up, and the wastes are
poisonous. meth addicts become paranoid, which makes them dangerous.
Long-term use robs the body of calcium and causes hair and teeth to fall
out while making bones brittle.

Nationwide, the number of meth labs busted has increased dramatically from
288 in 1992 to 8,290 in 2001. In Colorado, meth-lab busts shot up from 25
in 1997 to 452 in 2001.

Post reporter Gwen Florio also found that along with the speed labs, rural
areas in the West and Midwest also have experienced marked increases in crime.

One Great Falls, Mont., detective reported that about 90 percent of the
crimes investigated there can be linked to meth.

Once upon a time, "speed" cooks were highly valued in the illegal drug
trade, but underground "how-to" publications and easy access to the
necessary glassware through the Internet have spawned countless
small-volume operations, according to Dan Reuter of the Drug Enforcement
Administration.

Florio learned that the meth cookers favor the secluded countryside because
they can see strangers approach from a distance. Also, farmers' tanks of
anhydrous ammonia fertilizer are a "free" source of a material used in the
process.

Small-time crank cookers aren't environmentally sensitive, scattering
"death bags" of toxic by-products along highways and waterways, where they
imperil unsuspecting humans and wildlife. Farm and ranch families can be
put at risk when inexperienced thieves tap into ammonia-storage tanks.

The DEA focuses on big importers and traffickers, leaving small clandestine
labs to local cops, according to Jeff Sweetin, DEA special agent in charge
in Denver. But the feds teach the local officers how to safely take down
clandestine labs and obtain federal funding for cleanup.

It's bad enough these lawbreakers are poisoning themselves, but the fact
is, their activities threaten the safety of others as well as the environment.

For that reason, law enforcement needs to work as hard as it can to close
down meth labs.

While there are legitmate questions raised about the wisdom and efficiency
of the overall war on drugs, there should be no argument on whether meth
labs are a menace to society, and their operators deserve to feel the full
weight of criminal and civil penalties under the law.