WYOMING METH PROBLEM SHOWING NO SIGN OF EASING

POWELL, Wyo. (AP) - The state's methamphetamine caseload has risen 700
percent since 1992 and is showing no sign of abating, Wyoming's top law
enforcement official said.

The relative inexpensiveness of the drug, the intensity and duration of its
high, easily accessible chemicals and manufacturing information, and limited
treatment options make it difficult to reduce its use, Division of Criminal
Investigation Director Tom Pagel said at a public meeting recently.

Short-term treatment programs commonly used for alcohol abusers are rarely
effective with methamphetamine addicts, he said.

"Until we provide some more options, we're never going to solve this
problem," he said.

Simply imposing longer jail terms is not the answer either, Pagel said.

"This happens to good people every day," he said.

One reason for the rapid rise of meth use is the North American Free Trade
Agreement, or NAFTA, Pagel said. Smugglers are using the increased
cross-border traffic inspired by NAFTA to mask drug shipments in the U.S.,
and Border Patrol agents are able to search only 2 percent of the vehicles
that cross the border, Pagel estimated.

In 1992, DCI investigated 20 methamphetamine cases. In 1999, the number was
142. DCI agents raided three clandestine meth labs in 1992. In 1998, the
number had risen to 12, and last year, 20 labs were seized.

The labs alone present challenges to law enforcement because of their toxic
nature, and cleanup often costs thousands of dollars. A lab near Jackson
cost $50,000 to clean because bulldozers had to scrape away contaminated
topsoil, Pagel said.

A variety of methods are used to produce the drug, including the cooking of
ephedrine, which is found in cold tablets.

A recent arrest in Sheridan revealed that 25 pounds of cold tablets had been
cooked down.

Many ingredients in the manufacture of methamphetamine are common household
chemicals, and one can find 200 recipes for cooking meth on the Internet,
Pagel said.

Cocaine and methamphetamine both sell for approximately $100 per gram on the
street, but the high from methamphetamine lasts eight or 10 times as long as
from the same amount of cocaine, Pagel said.

When the effects of meth start to wear off, users are likely to be extremely
violent and irrational. A large percentage of burglaries and assaults are
related to methamphetamine abuse, he said.

Pagel said Park County trails only Casper, Rock Springs and Cheyenne in the
degree of its meth problem.

In Wyoming, 45 percent of drug arrests are made by repeat offenders.

"We're not dealing with this well," he said.