Meth's Path Of Destruction, Part 7 of 7

POLICE STRUGGLE TO KEEP UP WITH METH CASES

With striking uniformity, Willamette Valley drug agents say that meth now
dominates the illegal drug market in places like Oregon City, Woodburn,
Salem, Mill City, McMinnville, Independence, Albany, Corvallis and Eugene.

"We see very little heroin here. We don't see much crack or cocaine here.
We see a lot of methamphetamine," said Okada, co-commander of the Marion
Area Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Team.

Marion County agents seized 28 meth labs and dump sites last year, up from
one in 1998 and two in 1999.

In Central Oregon and along the coast, officials use terms like "growing
epidemic" and "meth invasion."

"Ten years ago, when I first started doing what I do here, our drug team
was addressing a variety of things: cocaine, heroin, and some
methamphetamine," said Rob Bovett, the Lincoln County legal counsel. "It
seems like all we do now is meth labs and meth dealers."

Coastal meth labs have been found at state parks, remote areas in the Coast
Range, even across the street from the emergency room at the community
hospital in Newport.

In Linn and Benton counties, the number of seized meth labs mushroomed from
13 in 1998 to 46 in 2000.

"The majority of them used to be up in the woods where it was secluded,"
said Oregon State Police Lt. Andy Olson, commander of the Valley
Interagency Narcotics Team. "That's not the case anymore. We're taking them
down in the city limits now."

Drug agents in the two counties busted three labs during a three-day
stretch in August, including a motorhome that operated as a rolling lab.

Pinpointing meth hotbeds is tricky, even futile, because the problem is
shifty and pervasive, officials said. "The best thing I can tell you about
dope, in general, is that it knows no boundaries," Olson said.

Fighting the relentless flow of meth can be frustrating for drug cops.
Olson sees it as a biblical-like struggle between good and evil.

Is the battle winnable?

"I don't think so, I don't believe it is," he said. "But does that mean we
sit back then and let it happen? I don't think so. I think you have to
fight it until you die."