TASK FORCE TO TARGET METH LABS

$250,000 Grant Funding Effort In North Mississippi

In the 1990s, dealers pushing crack and marijuana cornered the illegal drug
market in Mississippi.

But seemingly overnight, makeshift methamphetamine labs that plagued the
West and Midwest started popping up in other parts of the country, hitting
Mississippi particularly hard in 2000 and 2001.

Law officers fear they're here to stay.

"(Methamphetamine) is growing more and more every day, and eventually it
will overcome marijuana and cocaine as the primary drug of choice if we
can't get a handle on it," said James Hawkins, who oversees Mississippi's
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force.

Hawkins is using a $250,000 federal grant to create a task force he hopes
will put a dent in the amount of methamphetamine being trafficked and
manufactured in north Mississippi.

Between 1996-98, Mississippi law enforcement agencies reported finding 15
methamphetamine labs, according to statistics from the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration.

Between 1999-2001, Mississippi law enforcement agencies reported finding
373 methamphetamine labs, the DEA statistics show.

The North Mississippi Methamphetamine Enforcement Team, which will be based
in Oxford, will focus its efforts in the 36 counties that make up the
state's northern judicial district.

The task force will be set up similar to other HIDTA task forces in the state.

The task force - six federal drug agents, four state narcotics agents, two
state troopers, a Panola County deputy and three police officers from
Oxford, Southaven and Tupelo - will work full time, Hawkins said.

Task forces that work on a "call when you need me" basis often fail,
Hawkins said.

Hawkins said he hopes to have the officers investigating cases next month.

Rural northern Mississippi communities have become havens for makeshift
methamphetamine labs in houses, wooded areas and hotels and motels, Hawkins
said.

Almost all of the ingredients used to make methamphetamine are store-bought
- - denatured alcohol, lithium batteries, lye, paint thinner,
pseudoephedrine, sodium chloride and sulfuric acid. Anhydrous ammonia is
often stolen from farmers, who use it as a fertilizer, or from chicken
processing plants that use it as dry ice.

"It takes about $200 in chemicals to make a couple of ounces you could turn
around and sell for $3,000 or $4,000," Hawkins said.

However, Hawkins said some of the people making methamphetamine in the
state are not doing it to turn a profit. They make it to support their
habit, he said.

Methamphetamine addicts often grow thin from not eating, hallucinate from
lack of sleep, heavily arm themselves against people and things they only
imagine.

Methamphetamine can cause increased heart rate and high blood pressure, and
it's associated with heart attacks, strokes and self-mutilation.

Methamphetamine is being shipped to the state in large quantities by drug
organizations in California and Mexico, Hawkins said.

"Some of the organizations are making millions of dollars," Hawkins said.
"Some of the big bulk producers of this stuff are making as much as cocaine
organizations or marijuana organizations."

One of the goals of the task force is to make arrests that will lead to the
suppliers, Hawkins said.

Tupelo Police Chief Ron Smith said he is glad law enforcement in
Mississippi is joining forces to fight methamphetamine traffickers and
manufacturers.

Smith said the resources federal law enforcement can provide will be
invaluable.

Smith, who became chief in Tupelo in 1998, said he spent seven years as
police chief in Centerville, Iowa, where methamphetamine labs also were a
problem.

Smith said he's not surprised the problem has spread to Mississippi.

"It's just like anything else in this country. It has worked its way
around," Smith said.

Law enforcement agencies across the county are finding it necessary to
combine their resources to fight the methamphetamine problem, said Will
Gaspy, a DEA spokesman in Washington.

Gaspy said while there has been some success in the fight against
methamphetamine production, law enforcement agencies continue to wage an
uphill battle.

Gaspy noted California has been fighting methamphetamine labs for about 10
years, but in other parts of the country methamphetamine has only recently
become a problem.

"The further you go east, the newer the trend," Gaspy said.

Even so, the drug is not new in Mississippi, Hawkins said.

"Back in the '70s and '80s, we had super labs here that used a very
sophisticated production method," said Hawkins, a former DEA agent.
"Cooking it took six to eight hours."

The federal government stepped in and made it difficult to obtain products
needed to make methamphetamine, and the drug's production temporarily eased
up, Hawkins said.

Many people making the drug today use what's known as a "nazi" method.

The precursors needed are easy to find, Hawkins said.

"You can get the ingredients to make it on the shelves in drug stores and
discount stores," Hawkins said. "I am sure there are several sites on the
Internet that will tell you how to make it."

Hawkins said one reason why he wants to see Mississippi rid of the drug is
because it's dangerous to make.

"That's what's scary," Hawkins said.

"Those (makeshift labs) can blow up, put off poisonous gas and there's no
telling what damage could result. We have two or three house trailers that
have blown up and burned to the ground from addicts cooking the stuff. It
just poses an unnatural threat to the public."