DRUG CZAR: METH WOES TO CONTINUE

The head of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration offered this blunt
assessment of the methamphetamine epidemic that has swept through Tennessee
since 1999: The end is not in sight.

"I don't believe we've seen the peak effect in Tennessee," Asa Hutchinson
said yesterday during a visit to Nashville to attend a meeting of senior
DEA executives.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Larry Wallace echoed the federal
official. "Right now, this" - methamphetamine - "is the scourge we have,"
he said.

Despite fears that the worst is yet to come, both men said their agencies
are making progress to curtail the spread of the highly addictive drug,
which can be made from common ingredients in homemade "labs."

Hutchinson, a former congressman from Arkansas, said the DEA has a
three-pronged strategy: precursor control, education and international
enforcement.

Precursors are the chemicals used to transform pseudoephedrine, an
ingredient of many over-the-counter cold remedies, into methamphetamine.
Lye, acetone and iodine are examples.

"We have been effective in our precursor control," Hutchinson said, noting
that much of the success comes from cooperation between law enforcement
agencies and retailers, who contact police when an individual purchases a
large amount of chemicals.

"When we can get that cooperation from the citizenry it makes our job
tremendously easier," Wallace added.

Most labs raided in Tennessee have been "user labs," capable of making
grams of the drug at a time. In contrast, California and other states have
seen raids on many "super labs," which have the capacity to make 10 pounds
at a time.

"It's not difficult to get enough pseudoephedrine to produce a small amount
in a small lab, but it's much more difficult to get the volume of chemicals
for a super lab," Hutchinson said.

However, three weeks ago Carroll County authorities foiled a super lab,
believed to be the state's first.

"We want to watch this to see if this was an isolated incident of an
ambitious meth cook or whether that is a trend that is starting,"
Hutchinson said.

On the education front, the DEA is organizing a dozen methamphetamine
summits across the country during the next year.

"We'll involve all aspects of the population. We'll have treatment
officials, education officials, community leaders and law enforcement, all
talking about how we can attack the meth problem," the federal official said.

The agency's international assault has focused on Mexico, where numerous
drug cartels have flooded the United States with methamphetamine.

"I'm very pleased with the increased cooperation with Mexico. It's a good
foundation," Hutchinson said.

At the state level, Wallace said the TBI is ratcheting up its fight against
meth with the addition of forensic scientists in Chattanooga and Nashville,
who will analyze the drugs taken from raided labs.

"This will help us from a prosecutorial standpoint," Wallace said. His
agency is also purchasing four lab trucks that will aid local police and
the DEA in examining a meth site, the TBI director said. He added that nine
new agent positions are included in next year's proposed state budget, and
those agents would focus on the meth problem.