METH LABS SPROUTING AS DEMAND FOR DRUG INCREASES, POLICE SAY

Two men arrested in a southeast Oak Cliff motel last week were passed
out in a haze of fumes. Police knew before they opened the door that
they had found another methamphetamine lab.

"It was overpowering," said Sgt. Paul W. Turbyfill of the Dallas
Police Department's meth lab squad. "We couldn't let anyone in
without protective gear."

Fumes from anhydrous ammonia, which is mixed with other chemicals to
make methamphetamine, can burn skin and cause powerful explosions.

But the risk is worth it to many users because methamphetamine, also
known as speed, produces an intense high for little money. Use of the
drug is skyrocketing in Dallas, police said.

In 1998, the first year the lab squad operated, there were three
busts. The number jumped to 15 in 1999, and last year there were 39.

"We expect it to double again this year," Sgt. Turbyfill said. "Speed
freaks have always been around, but they didn't necessarily have
access to it. Now you can get everything you need with a trip to
Wal-Mart."

Police have found the labs in motels, apartments, suburban houses and
car trunks, Sgt. Turbyfill said.

Methamphetamine can be manufactured in different forms, so it can be
snorted, swallowed, smoked or injected.

"You can pull a recipe right off the Internet," Sgt. Turbyfill said.
"And if they don't know how to do it, their buddy does."

The increase in meth lab busts in Dallas matches a national trend,
said Mark Webber, director of communications for the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration.

"If you map it across the country year by year, it looks like a virus
spreading across," he said. "It's highly addictive. It takes over
people's lives very quickly, and they end up in emergency rooms, dead
or ... in treatment."

Mr. Webber said the drug grew in popularity in the early 1990s. Its
use declined in the middle of that decade but is on the rise again.

Problems with methamphetamine have become so serious in Arkansas that
lawmakers are considering legislation that would remove some items
used in making the drug - such as ephedrine - from store shelves.
Arkansas has more meth lab busts per capita than any other state,
according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

An ounce of the drug, which is worth from $800 to $1,000, can be
manufactured in only a couple of hours. But most of the labs Dallas
police have found were making smaller amounts. A gram, which provides
about 10 doses, is worth about $100.

"The majority of the ones we run across are making grams," Sgt.
Turbyfill said. "They may be trying to make a little bit of money,
but most of what they make goes right back into their arms."

When police awoke the two men they arrested in the southeast Oak
Cliff motel in the 4400 block of Cedardale Road, one of the men had
three syringes under his pillow ready to use, Sgt. Turbyfill said.

Sgt. Turbyfill said the typical users are men, but treatment
counselors say middle-class women also have been using the drug,
which provides a boost of energy.

The majority of users who have sought treatment at the Greater Dallas
Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse in the last year have been single
mothers trying to work more to support their children.

"It gives you a lot of energy," said Denny Leeds, a counselor for the
nonprofit organization. "They were taking three doses a day and
staying up for several days at a time."

But he said the drug makes it difficult for users to concentrate.

"One lady told me she was getting all kinds of work started but none
of it finished," he said.

Methamphetamine users often lose weight, speak rapidly and are unable
to sit still, Mr. Leeds said. They also can become paranoid.

When the Dallas Police Department started its lab squad, it used a
three-year grant from the U.S. Justice Department.

The grant helped teach officers what evidence to look for and how to
handle chemicals.

It also paid for costly cleanups. Disposing of chemicals costs about
$4,000 per lab. The grant expired in December, but the government is
still paying for cleanups, Sgt. Turbyfill said.

That's not the case with the grant's financing for drug treatment,
Mr. Leeds said.

"We were starting to see a lot of people coming in because we were
getting referrals from probation officers," he said. "But they've
stopped getting referred."

He said that is unfortunate because he does not think the problem has
leveled off in Texas.

"It will level off sooner or later, but you look around the country
and there are so many places getting hit harder than us," Sgt.
Turbyfill said.

"It's going to continue to increase before it drops off."