ARIZONA ON FRONT LINES IN METH ADDICTION WAR

Methamphetamine is digging its claws deeper into Arizona, leaving
behind a trail of broken lives and toxic waste.

In the last four years, Arizona's methamphetamine use has skyrocketed,
making it the latest front in a battle with addiction.

"It's becoming a drug of choice," said Kristen Genovese, director of
community programs for the East Valley Addiction Council in Mesa.
"It's cheaper. It's easy to get. In the last four years, there's been
such a dose of methamphetamine use in Arizona and the Southwest."

378 labs busted

Law enforcement agencies busted 378 methamphetamine labs in Arizona in
1999, the most recent year for which the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration has complete statistics.

The figures also represent the third-highest number of seizures in the
country behind California and Missouri. By comparison, only 16 labs
were shut down in 1995.

DEA has already registered 330 lab busts in Arizona for 2000 and
expects that number to go higher as additional reports filter in from
sheriff's offices and police departments.

Methamphetamine use appears to be more common on the West Coast, the
Southwest and the Midwest. East Coast states reported few meth lab
busts last year. New York, which has more than three times as many
people as Arizona, reported only one meth lab seizure in 2000.

Most methamphetamine operations in Arizona are small, designed to
supply enough drugs for the producer and a few friends. DEA agents
call them "Beavis and Butthead labs." Only one of the Arizona labs
shut down in 2000 was a "super lab" able to produce at least 10 pounds
of the drug in 24 hours.

"This is something that's being created here and used here," Phoenix
DEA Agent Jim Molesa said.

Methamphetamine - also known as meth, speed, ice, crystal, chalk or
glass - is a man-made drug produced by cooking commonly available
chemicals, including iodine, acetone and the cold medicine
pseudoephedrine hydrochloride.

Hazardous conditions

While use of the drug is hurting more people every day, its production
is creating hazardous conditions in houses, hotel rooms, cars, and
just about anywhere else a meth maker can set up one of the small labs.

Cooking the drug generates a host of dangerous substances such as
hydriotic acid that can dissolve flesh in seconds and has fumes so
toxic that even small amounts can collapse the lungs. Another is red
phosphorus, which, if mishandled, converts to yellow phosphorus and
can spontaneously ignite.

Fumes from the drug brew soak into walls, ceilings, carpeting and
furniture.

Its such a hazard that the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration requires training, special suits and breathing
equipment for drug agents.

Neighbors and anyone moving into a drug lab house could face similar
exposures from the toxic residue so law enforcement agencies are
tasked with cleaning up the lab sites after a bust. DEA estimates the
cost at $15,000 to $20,0000 per site.

Last year, the agency spent nearly $2 million on cleanups in Arizona -
twice what was budgeted.

This year, the agency has been given only $1.2 million even though it
doesn't expect any reduction in its workload. Any shortfall may have
to be made up by state and local agencies.

State officials are aware of the problem and concerned about its
personal, environmental and financial consequences.

Gov. Jane Hull highlighted her concern about methamphetamine during
her state of the state speech this month.

"I recently accompanied a team of officers as they shut down a meth
lab operating on a quiet street right here in Phoenix," Hull told
legislators. "The sight of children growing up in such homes
reaffirmed my commitment to our efforts to combat the plague of drug
abuse."

Changes in laws sought

Some officials are recommending changes in state law that would make
it harder to acquire the raw materials, stiffen criminal penalties and
require restitution from convicts for cleanup costs.

Before anyone reoccupies a home where a meth lab was removed, another
proposal would require an inspection by either the county Health
Department or the state Environmental Protection Agency. A hazardous
materials warning would be placed on the property title until it
passes an inspection to protect anyone thinking of buying the home.

Other officials hope to expand programs that protect the children
found in a third of the homes with meth labs.

Attorney General Janet Napolitano said Arizona is looking for
effective programs, how to control costs and who should be responsible
for cleanups. It's a top priority, she said.

Even so, it will be difficult to curb meth's growing
use.

Two years ago, Arizona started restricting large-scale sales of
several meth components - pseudoephedrine, iodine, hypophosphorus
acid, sodium acetate and red phosphorus.

And many judges already impose restitution payments as a condition of
parole in drug sentences.

But the number of labs continues to grow and few drug addicts have the
ability to make restitution payments.

More lives are bound to be hurt, more neighborhoods will be exposed to
hazardous materials and the cleanup costs will get even higher unless
something is done to change the trend, Mike McManus, a DEA agent based
in Washington, D.C., said.

"This stuff is everywhere," McManus said. "People have to understand
this drug and how it destroys people's lives."