DOUBLE THREAT OF METH LABS LURKS

Highly Addictive, Dangerous-To-Make Drug on Radar of the Law

Lt. Lachlan MacNeish hopes he'll never see another meth lab in his
life.

"If I could wake up and never have to go to another one, I'd be
happy," said MacNeish, commander of the Emergency Response Team with
the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office.

While meth labs aren't common in the area, chances are MacNeish will
have to deal with another one sooner or later.

In a presentation to county commissioners last week, MacNeish and
others said meth is here in Southeastern North Carolina, even if
manufacturing isn't common. MacNeish said last year local authorities
confiscated more than 453 grams of meth in New Hanover County, with a
street value exceeding $45,000.

"We've lived in blissful unawareness to this for a long time," said
Commissioner Nancy Pritchett. "We're not seeing it as much, but we
will."

Still, officials said the number of labs discovered in the state is
starting to decrease each year, thanks in part to crackdowns by law
enforcement and laws that restrict cough syrups that are used to
manufacture the drug.

Meth is a double threat, a drug that's highly addictive and extremely
dangerous to the public because of the toxic and flammable chemicals
used to make it, often in makeshift labs set up in homes.

North Carolina experienced a surge in meth labs in the past decade,
but the numbers have declined in recent years, according to numbers
from the State Bureau of Investigation. In 2001, only 34 meth labs
were found across the state, including one in Brunswick County. By
2004, authorities found 322 labs in the state. The number has steadily
decreased since then, with 283 labs discovered in 2005 and 187 found
last year.

The reason for the decline? New laws and programs focused on
prevention and education have helped reduce the number of meth labs in
North Carolina, officials say. Every county in the state now has a
plan to deal with meth, a directive sent down by the state attorney
general in 2004. And new federal and state laws govern the sale of
meth ingredients.

But even if people are not making as much meth here, authorities are
finding the drug. Capt. Bruce Hickman of the Wilmington Police
Department said one reason meth labs have decreased in number is that,
because of increasing demand, "superlabs" are springing up in Mexico
and other countries. Those large-scale labs are pricing the smaller
labs out of the market, Hickman said.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's National Clandestine
Lab Register, only three meth labs have been discovered in the
tri-county region from 2004 to 2006. One was found in Wilmington in
April 2004, and two labs were found in Brunswick County, one in 2004
and another in 2005. No labs have been found in Pender County,
according to the register.

Brunswick County Sheriff Ronald Hewett said in an e-mail that four
meth labs have been discovered in Brunswick County in the past five
years. Capt. Jamie Ezzell of the Pender County Sheriff's Office said
deputies there have not discovered any meth labs, but they have
arrested meth users and people who possess the raw materials to make
the drug.

In Wilmington, police have arrested people in possession of the drug,
but haven't found a lab since 2004, Hickman said.

An indirect hazard of meth labs is that children are often living in
close proximity to the toxic labs, said Wanda Marino, assistant
director of New Hanover County Social Services. Marino said children
are discovered in one out of every four meth labs in the state. In New
Hanover County, officials have found three children at locations with
meth labs in the past couple of years. Marino said another disturbing
trend is that students in the western part of the state are beginning
to use meth, and that could move east.

Marino said education is the best weapon against meth and that
everyone should learn about meth addiction and the signs that may
indicate a lab.