METH-LAB SEIZURES DROP 84% SINCE '99

Just six years after Utah was near the top in the nation for the
number of meth lab raids per capita, such seizures in Utah have
plummeted. Ravell Call, Deseret Morning NewsCold and allergy
medicines such as Sudafed, which has ingredients that can be used to
make meth, are kept behind the counter at Jolley's Corner Pharmacy in
Salt Lake City. The number of illicit methamphetamine-producing
operations shut down in Utah last year dropped by 84 percent from 1999's total.

The federal Drug Enforcement Agency reports that 242 labs were raided
and materials seized in 1999, compared to 38 in 2005. Some law
enforcement officials believe that voluntary and forced restrictions
on the sale of meth-related products, principally cold medicines like
Sudafed that contain chemicals necessary in the production of meth-
amphetamine, have been successful in limiting local meth labs. Other
potential reasons for the decrease include the concerted efforts of
law enforcement officials to confront the meth epidemic and the
effect of cheaper Mexican meth being brought into the state,
officials said. When members of Congress passed an extension of the
Patriot Act, they included a provision that requires over-the-counter
medicines containing the chemical pseudoephedrine, an ingredient used
to cook meth, to be kept behind store counters.

The provision also limited the amount of pseudoephedrine products
consumers can buy at one time and requires buyers to show photo ID
and sign a logbook. Although the Patriot Act restrictions will not
take full effect until next January, several large retailers began
voluntarily implementing the changes over the past few years --
something Jacey Skinner, a Salt Lake City deputy district attorney,
said has led to a decline in the amount of meth being produced in the
state. "We know that the restrictions work," she said.

However, not everyone agrees the restrictions are responsible for the
decrease. Reid Barker, executive director of the Utah Pharmacists
Association, believes there is no correlation between the Patriot Act
restrictions and the decrease in the number of meth labs. He said
meth lab seizures began to decline years ago, before the restrictions
were in place, because of the work that law enforcement officials
like Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff have done to combat meth
production in the state. "The Patriot Act restrictions are more of an
inconvenience to legitimate users that need cold medicine in the
middle of the night," he said. Mark Despito of the Utah DEA office
said legal actions against businesses selling large amounts of
precursor chemicals used to make meth, like crystal iodine and
pseudoephedrine, were frequent several years ago but have now all but
dropped to zero. "A lot of places were doing it back then, (but)
because of law enforcement, public awareness, the Patriot Act and the
whole nine yards that has almost diminished," he said. Some
pharmacists say the restrictions are becoming a headache -- both to
administer and for the purchasing public. "Pseudoephedrine is a
really good drug that has a good legitimate use," said Kathy
Goodfellow, owner of Mountain View Pharmacy in Bountiful. "It's
unfortunate for consumers.

It's a case where a few bad apples ruined it for everyone." Although
the number of labs producing meth in the state has sharply
diminished, use of the drug remains dangerously high, with Salt Lake
City coming in third nationally for meth use among women. The
majority of meth being used is coming from outside the state, Skinner
said. "Stopping labs hasn't decreased use," said Vernon Stejskal,
chief over the Meth Prosecution Unit in the Utah Attorney General's
Office. "The imported meth is completely filling the void," he said.
Despito said the influx of meth from Mexico has made combating the
epidemic difficult. "We're used to combating meth here in the states;
(the shift) has made it a lot more difficult," he said. "The meth
that is coming across (the international border) is even more than
what was produced here locally, which shows that the demand (for
meth) is increasing." Skinner said the Mexican variety is much purer
than meth made in domestic labs, so it tends to be more addictive.

She said it's frustrating trying to address the issue when Utah
officials have little, if any, control over meth being made in
Mexico. Barker said the large amounts of meth brought to Utah from
Mexico demonstrates that the Patriot Act restrictions haven't done
much to solve the meth epidemic.

He said he's unsure how to combat the flood of meth coming across the
southern border, but he said the current limitations on the sale of
cold medicines are not the answer to the meth problem. "The problem
is not just the labs; use is the problem," he said. Despito said his
agency continues to work with the Mexican government to try to bring
down criminal organizations that produce the drug. While shutting
down labs has not driven down use, Skinner said having fewer labs is
always good. "Meth labs have their own special dangers," she said.
"They're highly explosive, horribly toxic, and children are almost
always involved," living in homes where meth is produced or with
people who abuse it.