STATE POSTS BIGGEST DECREASE IN METH LABS IN NATION

The number of meth labs raided, found abandoned or dumped in Oklahoma
decreased 67.5 percent from 2004 to 2005, the biggest drop in the
country, a report by Drug Enforcement Agency indicates.

An Oklahoma law that went into effect in April 2004, since followed
by at least 37 other states, restricted the sale of cold tablets
containing pseudoephedrine, which is used to make methamphetamine.

The report released by DEA's El Paso Intelligence Center shows drug
lab numbers in Oklahoma fell from 1,058 in 2003 to 667 in 2004 and to
217 in 2005.

A federal law regulating sales of the over-the-counter drug is set to
take effect Sept. 30.

"There was this initial shock when our labs dropped in the first
month by 40 percent and by 60 percent after two months," said Mark
Woodward, spokesman for Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous
Drugs Control.

As Oklahoma's border states passed similar laws, the effects became
more pronounced, as the inflow of large quantities of pseudoephedrine
essentially dried up, Woodward said.

This year, 71 methamphetamine labs have been seized by police in
Oklahoma, compared with 217 last year, said Tom Cunningham, drug task
force coordinator for Oklahoma District Attorneys Council.

Many of the labs being seized now are not operational, Woodward said.

"They tell us, 'Yeah, I have the glassware and the chemicals, but I
can't get the pills,"' Woodward said.

Enid Police Department Lt. Dean Grassino said the department has seen
significant drops in the number of meth labs since the passage of the
state's pseudo law.

"In 2003, we had 32. In 2004, we had 10, and that was about a 68
percent decrease," he said. "In 2005, we had 11 labs, and in 2006
we've had one."

The decline in use of meth, though, has not been so dramatic.

A study conducted by one of the nation's largest drug-screening
providers, Quest Diagnos-tics, found a decline of more than 10
percent in job applicants testing positive for methamphetamine in the
first five months of 2006, Cunningham said.

Nationally, Quest Diagnostics found 31 percent fewer job applicants
tested positive for methamphetamine during the first five months of
2006, compared with 2005.

Almost as soon as Oklahoma's methamphetamine production began to lag,
Mexican drug cartels had flooded the state with a more-refined,
much-costlier form of the drug, often referred to as ice.

Grassino said most, if not all, of the meth his department sees
likely is imported.

"Almost all the meth we're seeing is of the crystal variety,"
Grassino said. "I'd venture to say almost all of it is imported."

Passage of Oklahoma's pseudoephedrine law also has resulted in a
decrease in the number of thefts of raw ingredients used in the
production of meth, such as anhydrous ammonia.

"Has it all stopped? No, but we definitely have seen decreases in
those types of thefts," the Grassino said.