ICE METH

State drug enforcers are facing new threat: Different meth form on
rise, officials say

With the enormous decline in clandestine methamphetamine labs in the
state during the past few years, police have seen a significant
increase in crystal meth.

Local and state law enforcement agents say almost all of the meth
seized now is a crystallized, smokeable form of the drug that is
produced in "superlabs" in Mexico and smuggled across the border.

For years, Oklahoma law enforcers fought what seemed to be a losing
war against clandestine meth labs--homemade laboratories concealed in
houses, apartments, sheds and even vehicles by meth cooks who used
hazardous chemicals to create a powder form of the drug. Between the
mid-1990s and 2003, the number of labs found by law enforcement rose
dramatically.

But in April 2004, the state enacted a law greatly limiting the sale
of one of the primary meth ingredients -- pseudoephedrine, a common
over-thecounter decongestant.

Since then, the number of labs seized has dropped to only a fraction
of what it once was, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs
Control records show.

But the addiction many people had for the drug did not go away when
the clandestine labs and availability of homemade meth began to
decline, said Sgt. Sean Larkin of the Tulsa Police Department's
Narcotics Unit.

"Although there's a reduction in meth labs, the demand is still
there," Larkin said. "That (crystal meth) is predominantly all we
see now."

The increase in crystal meth, also known as "ice," is not unique to
Tulsa, said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of
Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.

"About 100 percent of the meth we're getting is all ice; it's all
crystal meth," Woodward said. "We rarely get any powder anymore.
(Now) 95 percent of the meth consumed in Oklahoma is from Mexico."

Crystal meth has been around for years, but in what once was a buyer's
market in Oklahoma, it was rarely seen, he said. Most people who used
meth got it from local dealers.

However, when Oklahoma's 2004 law virtually ground clandestine labs to
a halt and the source of powder meth began to dry up, crystal meth
began to appear regularly in the state, Woodward said.

Drug running: Crystal meth is produced predominantly in large labs run
by drug cartels in Mexico, he said. These "superlabs" are capable of
operating 24 hours a day and producing hundreds of pounds of meth each
day, Woodward said.

The drug is then smuggled across the border by "runners" -- people who
are paid small amounts of money to bring it into the United States,
Woodward said.

Often, cartels will load several cars with the drug and attempt to
bring it into the United States at multiple points along the southern
border, he said.

These tactics, which also are used to smuggle heroin, cocaine,
marijuana and other drugs, increase the odds that some of the drug
will get through, he said.

Once in the country, the runners take the drugs to cartel lieutenants;
from there, it is distributed throughout the country, and arrangements
are made to send money back to the cartel's base in Mexico, he said.

A high cost: Police are also noticing more identity-theft crimes,
burglaries and copper theft, Woodward said, partially because meth
addicts must pay more for the drug and are stealing to get the money.

Previously, "They could almost make a batch for free," Woodward
said. "Now they're forced to buy it." In the past few weeks, Larkin
said, Tulsa police have made several seizures of crystal meth. Some
investigations have led to multiplepound seizures worth between
$11,000 and $12,000 per pound.

Before Oklahoma's antimeth law, officers rarely saw such large
quantities in one bust, he said.

"We rarely dealt with pounds (of meth) back then," Larkin
said.

A changed emphasis: If Oklahoma's 2004 anti-meth law gave Mexican drug
cartels an opportunity to expand their businesses, it also gave law
enforcers the opportunity to counter it.

Because law enforcement officers are working so few meth labs in the
state, they now have the time and resources to work on complex,
lengthy investigations to try to combat the flow of drugs into the
state, Larkin said.

"(There are more resources for) large cases in general, whether
cocaine, meth or ice, because we're not tied up with labs and
paperwork on them for hours, days," Larkin said.

In April, after a year-long investigation, the state narcotics bureau
made a large bust on a distribution network in Pittsburg, Hughes and
Atoka counties as well as in Dallas. A total of 34 arrest warrants
were issued, and meth, 5,000 pseudoephedrine tablets and 50 firearms
were seized during the bust.

The people involved in the operation would arrange for meth from
Mexico to be trafficked into the state and distributed in several
communities, Woodward said.

It was not uncommon for the group to distribute between 2 and 10
pounds of meth per week, he said.

Woodward said many local law enforcement agencies in the state are
also looking to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs
Control for guidance in dealing with the larger cases that involve
drug smuggling, rather than asking for help with meth labs.

"Prior to the law, these same departments were working two to three
(labs) a day," Woodward said.

The bureau is also working with American Indian tribal governments and
law enforcement agencies in the state, Woodward said, as many cartels
and dealers have begun going onto tribal land, such as casinos, to
make drug transactions.

The bureau has made a cross-jurisdictional agreement with the
Chickasaw tribe and is working on similar agreements with other
tribes, Woodward said.

"It (tribal land) shouldn't be looked at as a safe haven for drug
dealing anymore because of this cross-deputization," Woodward said.
"It's a great partnership that I can only see growing very popular
very soon."