RESIDENTIAL 'MOM AND POP' METH LABS WORRY POLICE

In their war on methamphetamine, Utah lawmakers have approved measures
to limit the sale of the chemicals used to make the relatively cheap
and highly addictive drug.

But the effort could end up as a case study in another law: the law of
unintended consequences.

There is evidence that the tougher laws have driven down the purity of
imported Mexican meth. Law enforcement officials say that may boost
the number of "mom and pop" labs in residential neighborhoods.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration says nearly one meth lab a
day is discovered in Utah.

"These chemical controls hurt the big guys. They don't hurt the small
guys so much, because they can buy smaller amounts -- enough to feed
their habit, sell to a couple of friends and make enough to buy more
(chemicals) to start all over," said Guy Hargreaves, a DEA meth expert
in Washington, D.C.

Nationally, meth purity has dropped from 60.5 percent in 1995 to 27.2
percent last year, according to the DEA. That indicates large-scale
producers aren't getting the chemicals they need to make pure meth.

"From the DEA's perspective that's a success, but from the perspective
of local law enforcement, it's a nightmare," Hargreaves said. "The
Achilles heel is that a heroin addict can't make his own heroin, a
cocaine addict can't make his own cocaine, but the meth addict can
make his own meth."

Meth is a powerful stimulant that can be made using ingredients such
as pseudoephedrine (found in cold medicines), hydrochloric acid,
iodine, rock salt, drain cleaner and lighter fluid.

Also known as crank, it sells for about $100 a gram, a little less
than the going rate for cocaine. But the meth high is more intense and
lasts up to 10 times longer. For less than $20 a user can get high.

"It's a better value," said Donald Mendrala, agent in charge of the
DEA's Salt Lake City office. "That's why it's called the poor man's
cocaine . . . You can get everything you need to make meth from
7-Eleven and Wal-Mart."

Utah DEA agents seized 266 meth labs in 1999. Almost all of them were
small operations, Mendrala said.

DEA officials caution that the tougher laws could have the opposite
effect -- forcing smaller labs out of business. That, in turn, could
create a larger market for Mexican imports, Mendrala said.

But that's not necessarily bad, he said. The DEA already has been
tracking the cocaine cartel for years, and the meth trade likely would
piggyback on the same network of dealers and middlemen that move
cocaine into the United States.

"That's the kind of thing we're equipped to handle," Mendrala
said.

And that's the scenario local officials are hoping for, said Capt.
Kevin Youngberg, a drug investigator with the Utah Department of
Public Safety.

"The biggest problem that I'm having with meth labs is that they're in
every neighborhood, and that means a higher risk of explosions, of
fires, of children being exposed to fumes, of chemical pollution,"
Youngberg said. "If we can get the domestic production down and deal
with importation, at least we don't have the labs happening in our
neighborhoods."

Drug enforcement officials are counting on new legislation and public
awareness campaigns to combat neighborhood meth labs. The Utah Council
for Crime Prevention has launched "What's Cooking in Your
Neighborhood," a campaign to have people turn in their neighbors who
may be running meth labs.

Under a 1997 Utah law, individuals cannot possess more than 12 grams
of ephedrine products. And it is unlawful for anyone to supply a
precursor chemical if there is cause to think it will be used to
produce meth.