LIEUTENANT: DECLINE IN LABS RESULT OF FEDERAL CASES

Meth lab numbers are plummeting across North Carolina and in
McDowell, the state's leader in lab busts the past two years.

State officials attribute the decrease to a new law that restricts
the sale of cold medicines used to make the drug. However, local
authorities say federal prosecution has cut the figures locally.

"The law has helped, but we've put over 70 people in federal prison
for cooking. That's been the biggest contributor here," said Lt.
Jackie Turner Jr., who heads up McDowell County's Drug Enforcement
division. Agents with the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation busted
11 meth labs in May, a 69 percent drop from the 35 labs discovered in
May 2005. McDowell saw only one in May of this year, compared to
about eight in May 2005. State officials said agents have busted 112
labs from the date the law took effect on Jan. 15 through May 31.
They found 172 labs for the same period last year, according to a
news release. Locally, there were 43 labs from January to May 2005
and 20 during the same time period this year. "The more we're able to
stop criminals from making meth here, the more we'll be able to go
after criminals who are trafficking meth, cocaine and other drugs
into our state," Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a statement.
Methamphetamine is cheap to make and often "cooked" in homes, cars or
motels. The new law requires anyone who buys cold tablets containing
pseudoephedrine and ephedrine to show a photo ID at a store counter
and sign a log. Most liquid, gel-capsule and children's forms of the
medicines, which are not generally used to make the drug, remain
freely available on store shelves. Turner said, even though the law
is beneficial to investigators, it still has its loopholes. He added
that drug makers are shopping from pharmacy to pharmacy and signing
the register at each place. They're also going of the county and out
of the state to buy, he stated.

"There's no way to see who's buying over the limit and there won't be
until there's a database that links the pharmacies," said the
lieutenant. He did say that the new law is giving detectives insight
into who is purchasing the cold tablets. Turner previously stated
that officers check the pharmacy logs on a regular basis and will be
prosecuting people who are buying quantities that exceed the limit.

The law allows the purchase of no more than two packages at once and
no more than three packages within 30 days.

Nine meth labs were found in North Carolina in 1999. Four years
later, the number had climbed to 177 labs, then almost doubled to 322
in 2004. There were 328 labs found in 2005.

McDowell has placed atop the state for the past two years in the
number of busts, with 43 in 2004 and 61 in 2005.