STATE SEES SURGE IN SEIZURES OF METH LABS

Police In Spokane Co. On Target To More Than Double Last Year's Number

SPOKANE -- Spokane County is experiencing the biggest surge in
methamphetamine lab seizures statewide so far in 2001, with law enforcement
on pace to more than double the number of busts over last year.

With the year just half over, the number of lab seizures as of Thursday
reached 87, already exceeding last year's total of 74, Spokane police
spokesman Dick Cottam said.

The figures include seizures of working labs where drug production was
under way; "box labs" where meth-making equipment is stored and often moved
from one location to another to avoid law enforcement; and sites where meth
chemicals are dumped.

Drug lab responses are up 47 percent statewide this year, with 843 through
the end of May, compared with 575 through the first five months of last
year, according to state Department of Ecology figures.

Last year's 12-month total was 1,449 -- a sevenfold increase from 1997,
when there were 207.

Despite Spokane County's surge, Pierce County remains the state leader this
year in drug lab responses, with 287 through May, the state figures show.
As has been the case in recent years, King County is second and Spokane
County third.

Despite the growth in Spokane meth lab activity, at least 60 percent of the
drug used in the city is shipped in from Mexico, the Tri-Cities or Yakima,
Cottam said.

In contrast, nearly all meth used in Pierce County is produced locally,
said Ed Troyer, a Pierce County Sheriff's Department spokesman.

The latest bust in Spokane was an example of some recent trends. Police on
Thursday raided a rental house on the city's well-heeled South Hill after
being tipped off by a local merchant who reported someone had been
frequently buying common items that can be used to make meth, Cottam said.

Such items include camp stove fuel, rock salt, iodine, and cold medications
containing ephedrine.

Meth labs are showing up in all kinds of neighborhoods, and police are
encouraging merchants to report suspicious purchases, Cottam said.

Methamphetamine, a synthetic stimulant that can be smoked, snorted,
injected or taken in pill form, has spread across the United States.

In 1999, Washington had the second-highest number of meth labs busted in
the nation, next to California, according to the Drug Enforcement
Administration.

A government study released in November found that chemicals used to make
methamphetamine caused fumes, fires and explosions that injured dozens of
police and emergency workers around the country.

Health departments in 14 states reported 79 police officers, firefighters
and medical technicians were injured between 1996 and 1999, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention said.