NEW PROBLEMS FOR AN OLD DRUG

In the past several years, illegal production and use of
methamphetamines has become a widespread problem across the nation,
but the drug is nothing new.

Synthesized in 1919, methamphetamines and their parent drug,
amphetamines, have long been -- and still are -- used legitimately to
treat illnesses such as narcolepsy, obesity and attention deficit
disorder, according to information on the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration's Web site.

The difference is that legal users are prescribed between 2.5 and 15
milligrams per day, while abusers ingest about 1,000 milligrams every
three hours, reports the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous
Drugs on its Web site.

Illegal use of the drug began decades ago. Between 1960 and 1985,
motorcycle gangs largely controlled the trade. In fact, that's how the
drug earned one of its nicknames, crank -- outlaw bikers carried the
drug in their motorcycle crank cases, reported the Contra Costa Times,
a California newspaper.

During that period of time and into the 1990s, the illegal forms of
the drug were concentrated in the western part of the United States,
according to the DEA.

That agency attributed the early widespread distribution of
methamphetamine to Mexico-based trafficking groups, who entered the
market in the mid 1990s. These groups operate "super labs" that can
produce at least 10 pounds of the drug per manufacturing cycle.

However, the DEA notes the recent "dramatic increase" in the number of
independent manufacturers across the nation who operate small-scale
labs.