METH SPEEDS PAST COCAINE IN ARRESTS

The ingredients for methamphetamine are in your local supermarket. The
recipe is available in books and on the Internet.

The drug is cheap and so easy to make that it's being cooked up in homes,
vans and hotels across Indiana.

In 2001, Indiana State Police busted 681 labs. That's way up from 1995,
when police closed down six. More than 200 already have been dismantled
this year.

The increasing popularity -- and decreasing price -- of meth prompted a
statewide summit on the issue Thursday. It attracted 500 law enforcement
officials, school administrators and health professionals to Indianapolis,
including U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Director Asa Hutchinson.

Last year, the state made more arrests for meth than for powdered cocaine,
and meth offenses constituted 20 percent of all drug-related convictions in
Indiana. The national average was 14.5 percent.

Meth -- a stimulant with a high similar to that of cocaine -- is made by
combining such household products as cold medicines, lithium batteries,
anhydrous ammonia, lighter fluid, drain cleaner and antifreeze.

Hutchinson described meth as "the number one drug problem in rural America"
and stressed that it poses a two-part problem.

There are local "mom and pop" labs being operated by addicts who use as
well as sell their products. But there are also "superlabs" in California,
Texas and other states that manufacture and ship massive quantities of the
drug. Because of Indiana's central location, it has become a crossroads for
meth traffic.

Hutchinson estimated that 50 percent to 70 percent of the meth available in
Indiana comes from "superlabs." Recently, an Evansville court sentenced a
woman to life in prison for helping funnel $250,000 worth of meth from
Texas into Indiana.

The summit aimed to help officials from various agencies and businesses
work together to check the threat.