POLICE CHIEF SAYS SALINA 'IS AWASH IN METH'

SALINA (AP) -- Law enforcement officers say they are seeing disturbing
evidence that methamphetamine use is growing rapidly in Salina.

The I-135-I-70 Drug Task Force paid $12,000 for a 1-pound brick of meth
last weekend in a string of drug arrests. That price is not a good sign for
Salinans, said Salina Police Chief Jim Hill.

"You know the community is awash in meth when you see it that cheap," Hill
said.

The $12,000 the task force's confidential informant paid for the drug
represents its wholesale value, police said. The street value was estimated
at $45,000, said police Lt. Joe Garman.

A year ago that pound would have cost more than $15,000, Garman said.
Prices are low because the drug trade in Salina is a buyer's market.

"The market is flooded," Garman said. "There's so much dope being brought
into town that it's like a gas war. To attract customers, you have to give
them a better price than the competition."

The meth seized last weekend came from Mexico, Garman said.

In 1999, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration estimated that groups
in Mexico and California controlled 80 percent to 90 percent of meth
production and distribution in the United States.

In recent years, meth labs have sprung up all over the Midwest. Nine labs
have been discovered in Saline County in the first three months of this year.

The 1 pound of meth was purchased during the weekend at three separate
homes. Five people were arrested. On Monday, the drug task force arrested
four more people at a body and stereo shop.

Garman said one of the suspects had an "owe sheet" at the body shop that
listed more than $44,000 people owed him for drug transactions. Included on
the sheet were some of the names of those arrested.