METH USE, PRODUCTION INCREASING IN KENTUCKY, OFFICIALS SAY AT SUMMIT

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The growth of methamphetamines is outstripping demand for
the powerful pain medication OxyContin among illegal drug users throughout
the state, Kentucky law-enforcement officials said yesterday. Until
recently, meth abuse has been limited mainly to Western Kentucky, while
illegal drug users in the eastern part of the state have preferred OxyContin.

The two drugs are the subjects of a summit in Lexington for law officers
trying to deal with the spread of both substances, especially the
easy-to-produce methamphetamines.

Asa Hutchinson, administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration,
stopped in Lexington yesterday on a 32 city tour to talk about
methamphetamines -- a drug that has been around for two decades but is seen
as rural America's newest threat.

"There is still a danger in the heartland of America," Hutchinson said.
"And it is a danger posed by methamphetamines. Now it's certainly a
significant problem in Kentucky, and it is continuing to expand."

Meth summits are being held around the country at the behest of the DEA.
Organizers in Kentucky decided to discuss OxyContin as well at the two day
summit because that drug is still a major problem in Eastern Kentucky,
where it has been linked to at least 70 deaths in the past two years.

But methamphetamines have taken a toll as well. The DEA says 51
meth-related deaths occurred in Kentucky from 1999 and 2001, including 23
last year.

Greg Van Tatenhove, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky,
said yesterday the huge spurt in OxyContin abuse seems to have leveled off
while meth use has begun to rise in Eastern Kentucky.

"We're seeing almost as many prosecutions for meth as we are for
OxyContin," Van Tatenhove said.

Steve Pence, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, said that
methamphetamines in his half of the state are such a serious problem that
he is seeking additional federal funds to combat them.

The quick high that comes from meth and the easy availability of the drug,
which can be manufactured using over-the-counter medications or the farm
fertilizer anhydrous ammonia, has spurred their growth as the problem moves
eastward across the United States.

The makeshift labs where the drugs are manufactured also cause
environmental and safety risks. A strong acid is a byproduct of the
manufacturing process, and some of the chemicals can cause illness and death.

When the drugs came to Kentucky, federal authorities paid for teams to
enter labs to clean up the environmental problems. But that money soon
dried up.

Now the Kentucky State Police have a hazardous-materials team to clean up
labs they and local police departments raid. The federal share of cleanup
dropped from $212,600 in 1999 to $125,700 last year.

Methamphetamines until recent years were generally confined to motorcycle
gangs in California. Simpler recipes for the drug, which can be found in
just minutes on the Internet, have caused the spread throughout the
country, Hutchinson said.

In April, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture warned farmers to look out
for people stealing anhydrous ammonia, a common fertilizer used by corn
farmers, for use in meth labs. According to law-enforcement officials, a
black market for the ammonia has arisen.

Lt. Kevin Payne of the state police drug control unit said police first
spotted a growing meth problem in Kentucky four years ago, when small labs
began to pop up in rural areas in Western Kentucky.

Hutchinson said methamphetamines are a growing problem throughout the
western and midwestern United States, particularly in rural areas where
anhydrous ammonia is readily available. According to DEA figures, the
problem is worst in California, Washington and Missouri.

"This is one drug we can't blame on our South American neighbors. It is a
drug that is produced in our neighborhoods," Hutchinson said.

Although the illegal use of OxyContin remains a problem in Kentucky,
law-enforcement officials say anecdotal evidence seems to indicate the
problem is no longer growing.

Payne said law enforcement has finally begun to get a handle on OxyContin
abuse, partly because of a state computer system for pharmacists and
doctors to track people who receive controlled substances.

Payne said the meth problem in Eastern Kentucky is not as critical as in
Western Kentucky, possibly because anhydrous ammonia is less available in
the mountains.

Pence said that OxyContin has not been a serious problem in the western
portion of the state but that the manufacture of meth is rising
dramatically. Pence recently asked that 11 Western Kentucky counties,
including McCracken, Daviess and Warren, be included in the state's High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area in order to get additional federal aid to
help battle the drug problem.

But Pence said the transient nature of the labs -- in homes, trailers,
motel rooms and even cars -- has made it difficult to crack down on them.
The manufacturers simply move on when police get close.

Between 1999 and 2001, the number of meth labs in Kentucky more than
doubled, and Payne said the number of labs seized this year is 50 percent
higher than last year.

Most of the labs are "mom and pop" operations where small amounts of
methamphetamines are produced, said state police Detective Gerald Wilson,
one of the troopers who is qualified to enter the labs in protective gear
to clean up the site.

"Most of these labs can be carried around in a storage box," he said.

State police Sgt. Jere Hopson, however, said that just last week, state
police in Warren County raided a lab that had between 3,000 and 4,000
gallons of anhydrous ammonia -- enough to make 250 pounds of methamphetamines.