PHILA. TOPS IN MAKING TRADITIONAL FORM OF METH

As the head of Philadelphia's division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration office sees it, the region has little to fear from the
epidemic of ephedrine-based methamphetamine that has plagued the
Midwest for several years.

That's the good news.

The bad news, said the DEA's Lawrence P. McElynn, is the reason:
Philadelphia is in no danger of losing its 25-year crown as the East
Coast's leading producer of the more traditional form of
methamphetamine created from the solvent P2P, or phenyl-2-propanone.

"There is so much P2P out there," McElynn said, "that this area has as
much methamphetamine as anyone could ever want."

Just last month, McElynn noted, DEA agents discovered a cache of 126
gallons of P2P buried on state game land near Williamstown in South
Jersey, enough to produce 3,780 pounds of methamphetamine, the illegal
stimulant known as "speed." Each pound of meth, he added, sells for
about $10,000.

Although the nine meth labs broken by the DEA last year in
Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware seem dwarfed by the 421 raided
in Missouri, McElynn said most of the Midwest labs are mom-and-pop
operations or for self-consumption.

"Most of the operations we get are producing for the region from
Boston to Washington," McElynn said. "These are well-connected people
here who we believe are also involved in getting the precursor
chemicals[P2P]for others in Delaware, New Jersey and Southeastern
Pennsylvania."

McElynn said the outbreak of ephedrine-based meth in the Midwest --
none has been seen in this region -- is an outgrowth of its
introduction into the Southwest by Mexican criminal drug organizations
more than two decades ago.

Unlike dealers in the United States, where ephedrine is controlled and
difficult to obtain in bulk, Mexican drug dealers had no such
limitations. But as the market for ephedrine-based meth has spread
inland, McElynn added, it has outstripped the supply routes of the
established Mexican drug rings, prompting the growth of the
mom-and-pop meth labs.

Barring a major disruption of East Coast meth labs by law enforcement
or attrition -- a lot of Philadelphia-area meth dealers are getting
old -- McElynn said he does not expect a surge in local
ephedrine-based meth labs.

But the DEA is not taking any chances. McElynn said his office
recently sent letters to dozens of pharmacies and other drug vendors,
warning them to watch for customers buying bulk amounts of
ephedrine-containing allergy or cold medicines that could be converted
into methamphetamine.