METH LAB CRACKDOWN DEALT A SETBACK

Drugs: State And Federal Agents In Central Valley Say Manpower Drain
Has Crippled Their Efforts As Agents Are Transferred To The
Anti-Terrorism Cause.

MERCED, Calif. -- Before Sept. 11, state and federal agents thought
they were turning the corner in the battle against one of the biggest
blights in California's agricultural heartland: the massive, illegal
production of methamphetamine.

A federal Drug Enforcement Administration program to restrict the
supply of the chemical agents used in making the deadly drug was
showing impressive results. A team of specialists from local drug
units, the California Highway Patrol, DEA and FBI averaged one bust a
week of the clandestine "super labs" that had made the Central Valley
the national center for the production of meth, known on the streets
as "crank."

But officials here say a post-September manpower drain threatens to
undo their efforts, as agents have been transferred to the
anti-terrorism cause. The effect on the valley drug program reflects
the general national strain on local law enforcement produced by the
anti-terror campaign. Although few suggest cutting back in the fight
against terrorism, some law enforcement experts contend that the
battle is beginning to take a toll.

In the FBI alone, spokesman Thomas Hinojosa said, about 7,000 people
are now involved in the counter-terrorism effort--about one-fourth of
the bureau's work force. Many of these agents and support staff had
previously been assigned to state programs, including the federally
funded, $2.5-million Central Valley High-Intensity Drug Trafficking
project.

"The bad guys always know where your resources are devoted," said Tom
Umberg, a former Los Angeles federal prosecutor who served for three
years in the White House drug policy office during the Clinton
administration. "We are at a critical juncture now with respect to
meth production in California. It would be a shame if we took a step
backward at this point."

After the September attacks, said Bill Ruzzamenti, director of the
Fresno-based Central Valley project, six FBI agents assigned to his
team were transferred to the national terror probe, two federal drug
agents were shifted to federal air marshal duty and a Border Patrol
agent was given an anti-terrorism job.

"We are the Colombia of methamphetamine manufacturing," a frustrated
Ruzzamenti said. "There are hundreds of federal agents in Colombia.
Now we [in the Central Valley] have only four."

Nine California members of Congress signed a Jan. 7 letter to DEA
Administrator Donnie Marshall asking for help.

"Because the FBI is understandably forced to reassign its valley
agents to anti-terrorism efforts," wrote the California delegation
members, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, "we
strongly believe the DEA should respond by assigning additional
agents to the Central Valley."

Raids Continue on Drug Suspects

None of this means that the methamphetamine enforcement program has
screeched to a halt.

Earlier this month, the DEA, U.S. Customs Service, Internal Revenue
Service and Royal Canadian Mounted Police broke up a major smuggling
ring for pseudoephedrine, the main chemical precursor used to make
methamphetamine. They arrested 100 people, including suspects in the
Central Valley and the Inland Empire alleged to be part of a major
smuggling network.

Last week, Central Valley investigators raided a methamphetamine
super-lab on the outskirts of Merced. After observing three men
working with "drug-cooking" materials in a shed behind a small
farmhouse, the agents moved in when the men got into two cars and
headed into the city, where they were arrested.

Afterward, Sheriff's Department drug agents and CHP officers assigned
to the high-intensity drug unit raided the farmhouse, where they
found vats of chemicals, including 10 pounds of red phosphorus used
in producing meth, authorities said.

While the men, all Mexican citizens, were engaged in the potentially
explosive process of extracting pure methamphetamine from a large
supply of illegally imported pseudoephedrine, four small children
watched television inside the three-room farmhouse. The children were
taken to a local hospital by county child protection services staff
to be tested for possible methamphetamine contamination.

Under the mattress in the bedroom, investigators said, they found
three weapons, including an illegal semiautomatic rifle.

Fresno County Sheriff's Sgt. Rick Hill estimated that the lab was
capable of producing 40 pounds of meth, with a street value of more
than $300,000.

The DEA estimates that California is the source of 80% to 90% of the
nation's methamphetamine. Originally, production was the domain of
biker groups, notably the California Hells Angels, which at one time
operated what amounted to a meth cartel.

In the 1980s, however, the operation shifted to Mexican networks that
easily blended into the Central Valley's farm labor population and
Latino communities in the Inland Empire. The nexus of major highways
in both places facilitated distribution to markets across the United
States.

Until recently, the state and federal agents believed that they were
on the verge of driving meth production out of the valley. Now they
are not so sure.

"While I understand the new focus on terrorism," said Rep. Cal Dooley
(D-Fresno), one of congressmen concerned by the staff cutbacks, "the
DEA should step up to the plate to make sure our gains in the meth
fight aren't erased."

At stake is a panoply of social and environmental ills.

According to Ruzzamenti, every pound of methamphetamine produces 10
pounds of toxic waste, most of which is dumped in ecologically
sensitive areas. A private contractor hired to clean up meth-related
hazardous dump sites responded to more than 500 calls last year.

"We found one dump site on the banks of the California Aqueduct,"
Hill said. "That's water that goes to L.A."

John Maddox, who runs a big dairy near Merced and farms 7,000 acres
of cotton, corn, sugar beets and alfalfa, had a scare a few days ago
when he found two canisters of deadly hydrogen chloride gas,
presumably dumped by drug makers, in a ditch next to one of his
fields.

"Used to be the most we'd find was a burned-out car," he said with a sigh.

There also has been a heavy cost to Central Valley cities, where
inexpensive, readily available meth has become the drug of choice and
principal cause of crime among young people.

Destructive World of Meth Addiction

Cheryl West, 34, said she was already troubled when she moved to
Fresno from Washington state six years ago. She had tried
methamphetamine, but did not become an addict until she came to
Fresno.

After a year, she was using an "eight ball" a day--about $100 worth
of meth. To support her habit, West, a skilled computer operator,
counterfeited bank checks and California driver's licenses, which she
would sometimes exchange for drugs.

Not sleeping for days at a time, West would find herself in all-night
stores populated by other addicts there to shoplift goods or plan
other criminal activities to raise money.

After serving time in county jail for fraud, she now has a job as a legal aide.

In the destructive world of meth addiction, said CHP drug agent Erik
Skidmore, West is one of the few users with a chance to make it out.

"I've made 5,000 drug arrests in 22 years," he said. "I can only
think of three or four who were able to turn their lives around."

'We are the Colombia of methamphetamine manufacturing.'