SHERIFF - METH STILL A PROBLEM DESPITE DECREASE IN LAB BUSTS

WASHINGTON -- Since Arkansas restricted the sale of cold medicines
used to make methamphetamine, sheriffs say there have been fewer meth
lab busts in their counties but meth use continues to be a plague, a
study released last week reported.

As part of a nationwide survey, the National Association of Counties
said eight of 10 Arkansas sheriffs responded meth lab busts had
decreased in their jurisdictions. Three of 10 said the dropoff was
between 50 percent to 74 percent, polling officials said. The
counties were not identified.

Officials said the decrease in busts means there are fewer meth cooks
at work in makeshift labs hidden in the woods and other remote areas.

Arkansas lawmakers and law enforcers cited the state law that took
effect in March 2005 restricting sales of medications containing
pseudoephedrine, an ingredient used for meth. Cold medicines like
Sudafed and Clarinex D now are kept behind the counter, with limits
on how much can be purchased.

Comparing the 12 months before the law's passage with the 12 months
after, the Arkansas Crime Lab has reported meth lab busts down 55
percent, said Matt DeCample, spokesman for Arkansas Attorney General
Mike Beebe.

But even with fewer "homecooked" sources of meth, the drug continues
to be a big problem due to supplies entering from Mexico and from
states that do not have tough laws, the officials said.

Most Arkansas sheriffs said meth continues to be the biggest drug
problem in their county, based on arrests in the past year.

The data collected by the National Association of Counties shows meth
use spreading across the country, from rural areas in Western states
to the Midwest and Southeastern states, association executives said.

"It's Econ 101. If we cut off one source, they're going to find
another," said Maj. Cleve Barfield, head of the Arkansas State Police
Criminal Investigation Division. "The void has been filled by those
outside avenues of bringing meth in."

Eight of 10 Arkansas sheriffs told surveyors that Mexican meth is
being used to meet the continuing demand.

Barfield agreed, adding that troopers are finding larger quantities
of meth entering Arkansas via highways. He could not say if more
seizures had been made since the passage of the cold medication
restriction law.

One of the loopholes in ingredient restriction laws has been referred
to as smurfing, in which would-be meth cooks purchase cold
medications from multiple stores in order to get enough for a batch.

Oklahoma enacted its anti-meth law before Arkansas, DeCample said. As
a result, Oklahoma meth cooks were crossing state lines to
manufacture and traffic in the drug, he said.

There remains a critical difference in Arkansas and Oklahoma law. In
Oklahoma, pharmacies are required to keep records of cold medication
sales on an Internet registry accessible by any pharmacist statewide,
according to John Whetsel, sheriff of Oklahoma County.

Arkansas requires drug stores to keep a record of cold medication
sales, but there is no requirement for a statewide computer registry.

"We didn't want to put that immediate financial burden on
pharmacies," DeCample explained, adding that many chain drug stores
have company-wide computer registries anyway.

In the Arkansas counties surveyed, half of the sheriffs believed meth
use increased the workload of public safety staff.

Eight of 10 said robbery or burglaries increased because of meth use
- -- meth users are known to steal to finance their habit -- and seven
in 10 said assaults and domestic violence increased because of meth.

Three sheriffs said 75 to 100 percent of inmates in their county
jails were incarcerated because of meth-related crimes.