METH MANIA - EVEN COPS DUCK FOR COVER

While questioning a forgery suspect living in a duplex, South Salt
Lake Det. Dave Browning suddenly felt dizzy.

"The other officers said I was starting to list to one side," he said.
Fresh air didn't help. He began vomiting and was rushed to the
hospital. Later, police discovered a methamphetamine lab in the other
unit of the duplex. Fumes from the lab, combined with smoke from an
officer's cigarette, had wafted to Browning.

"The doctor said my small airways were constricted," Browning said. It
is the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's task to investigate illegal
labs. But street cops and detectives usually happen upon most labs,
said Jeff Payne, a DEA detective who specializes in methamphetamine
labs.

Labs pose risks of violence, chemical toxins and long-term illness for
officers across the nation and in Utah, where meth has reached
epidemic proportions.

"We have the largest amount of meth labs per capita in the nation,"
Payne said. "Back in '91, '92 if you got a lab, that was something
else. Now, we're online for 250 to 300 this year."

Said West Valley Police Lt. Charles Illsley: "Meth is the very worst crime
scene we've encountered."

Violent Encounters: Meth chemists, or "cooks," are violent because
virtually all use their own product. Typically, addicts can go without
sleep for up to 15 days -- making them delusional, volatile and irrational.
Cooks have attacked lab invaders with scissors, chain saws and fire.
Illsley said at least 40 percent booby-trap their labs with explosives and
nerve agents.

"These folks are biohazards in and of themselves," Illsley said. "They
have open sores, chemical burns, higher incidences of HIV, TB and
hepatitis. They even sweat the by-products of these drugs."

Addicts can hide their needles in creative places, so jailers doing
searches worry about being poked. On the streets, officers making
routine stops or calls can be exposed to an array of toxic chemicals.
Labs even pop up in cars.

"Meth labs in the trunk are a very popular reason for high-speed
chases," Illsley said. "That endangers the officer and civilians." And
damage can affect officers' own families.

"There are lots of examples of foot pursuits where you run right
through the lab," Illsley said. "Then, the cop's kids are contaminated
with chemicals daddy dragged in from the drug lab. We used to be able
to say, `I'm not in narcs anymore.' Now, everyone encounters it on a
daily basis."

Special Precautions: Special suits and ventilators don't eliminate all
dangers.
For instance, DEA agents use flashlights in assessing labs so that sparks
are minimized around explosive chemicals. Agents breathe through
Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus masks and wear yellow plastic Tyvex
clothes -- dubbed banana suits.

"But all of that stuff is cumbersome, and we have to worry about heat
exhaustion and fatigue," Payne said. "So we switch to lighter gear
when we have to move." That includes fire-resistant suits and
military-style gas masks fitted with special filters.

"But the masks fog in the winter, are hot in the summer, and the bad
guys can't understand us when we yell, `Police!' " he said. "So we go
in without them, secure it, and get out. Then we worry about the suits."

As backup, one person suits up and waits outside to help if officers
are overcome by toxic fumes.

"It's a double-edged sword for SWAT," West Valley police Lt. Illsley
agreed. "They have to move quickly, yet [protective gear] will hinder
their progress. But they're in and out -- they're the least exposed.
It's the uniforms [officers] investigating a case that I worry about."

Amateur Scientists: Worse, criminal meth cooks are untrained, or as Illsley
puts it: "These guys are not gifted when it comes to organic chemistry."
Cooks begin by mixing ephedrine, hydriatic acid and red phosphorus, then
heating the mixture.

"Red phosphorous is toxic, highly flammable and if overheated, it will
catch on fire or explode," Payne said. "It can become phosphane gas,
which was used in World War I as a nerve agent."

Next, they strain the mixture to remove the red phosphorous. When one
officer walked through a lab house, there was so much red phosphorous
in the carpet that sparks could be seen coming from his boots. "Could
you imagine if a SWAT team went through there?" Payne said. "The whole
place would have gone up."

Lye is added to the mixture. (Lye can cause serious skin burns or
damage airways.) Everything is thrown into a drum, usually 55-gallons,
and Freon is added to force the meth to the bottom of the container.
The mixture is drained and hydrogen chloride gas is added to convert
meth oil into powder.

"They distill these chemicals to get the meth out," Payne said. "But
they ventilate the tanks to let out pressure, which also lets toxins
into the air."

The amount of fumes and the potential for an explosion differ with
each illegal lab. Some cooks don't follow a recipe -- they just toss
in chemicals until the mix looks right. Payne has seen cooks use
antifreeze, highly explosive ether and alcohol, along with drain
cleaner and lye.

Even trained chemists can have problems. At what was to be a simple
demonstration during a conference in Kansas, a chemist inadvertently
blew up a glass container.

"That was a chemist," Payne said. "Most of these meth cooks haven't
even graduated from high school."

Particles and gases can contaminate entire rooms, often seeping into
basements, ventilation systems and other apartments.

Health Effects: Meth causes nausea, dizziness and headaches, said Payne.
"But it's really never been studied. We don't know the long-term effects."

He knows of officers who sat on red-phosphorous-covered furniture,
then tracked the chemicals to their own homes. One officer stepped
into a liquid substance, and not realizing the danger, wore his boots
every day. He noticed that he felt sick at work and at home. In
civilian shoes, he felt fine. "You have to wonder: `Headache? Where's
it from?' " said Payne. "It's hard to say unless it gets worse and you
track it back to exposure."

Illsley said he will never forget Dec. 21, 1982 -- the day he first
encountered a lab. "We'd go outside, get some fresh air, then go back
in," he said. "In the '70s and '80s, there was a whole generation of
officers who investigated clandestine labs without any
protection."

Two years ago, Portland, Ore., approved disability claims from several
officers who developed rare forms of cancer. Three had non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma, another had emphysema and a fifth officer bone marrow
cancer, the Law Enforcement News reported.

"There are guys who worked it for 20 years, retired, and just now are
starting to show ill effects," Illsley said. "But it's hard to link it
back to the labs. There are so many chemicals used in so many ways, it
would be hard to trace." Salt Lake police Sgt. Craig Gleason remembers
seeing his first lab in a hotel room, three years ago.

"We didn't know exactly what to do," he said. "Then I remember the DEA
guys taking our clothes and washing our shoes after they found out we
went in." Now, he tells officers to stay back.

"As a patrol supervisor, I had two guys find a lab in a car," he said.
"When I got there, they were sitting on the side of the curb
disoriented. They had to be taken to the hospital."

The DEA offers classes, expertise and backup. Web sites can help too.
One, www.meth.com, discusses meth addicts; www.lifeormeth.org features
help links; and www.stopdrugs.org shows lab equipment.

"We haven't had any police officers die from this yet in Utah,"
Illsley said. "The Lord watches out for us, but we still need to look
out for ourselves."