RECORD NUMBER OF METH LABS FOUND IN 2009

The Number Of Labs Was Higher Than The Previous Five Years
Combined.

Police disposed of a record number of meth labs in Tulsa last year,
and three people died in fiery explosions caused by the production of
the drug.

Records show that 315 labs - more than the previous five years
combined - were found in homes, apartments, motels and dump sites
throughout the city in 2009.

In comparison, 213 labs were discovered in the entire state in 2008;
42 of those were in Tulsa.

"It was most definitely a record-breaking year," said Sgt. Wendell
Franklin, a narcotics investigator who works in the Tulsa Police
Department's Special Investigation Division.

The last record was set in 2003, when 214 labs were discovered.

Coincidentally, Tulsa's previous homicide record of 69 killings, set
in 2003, also was broken last year when 70 homicides occurred.

The production of meth in Oklahoma dropped after a 2004 law went into
effect requiring that purchases of pseudoephedrine tablets be made at
pharmacy counters.

A quicker method of producing the drug, called the "one-pot" or
"shake-and-bake" method, is partially to blame for the recent spike
in labs in Tulsa, police said. The method makes less of the drug, so
less pseudoephedrine is needed for each batch.

"It is a quick and easy way to make this stuff, and that is what
everybody has turned to," Franklin said.

But narcotics investigators believe that other issues are also to
blame, he said. Police have theorized that efforts along the Mexican
border to combat illegal immigration and address fighting among drug
cartels has also decreased the amount of methamphetamine in the
potent form called "ice" that is being brought into the United States.

As a result, "we have also seen the price of that drug going up,"
Franklin said. "People still have the demand for it, and they are
turning to other ways to get it, and this one-pot method is what they
are using."

The materials are readily available, he said, and "long gone are the
days when they have to go to the feed store to get large amounts of
the ingredients."

Although the number of meth lab seizures in Tulsa remained constant,
the number of meth-lab related fires decreased about mid-year,
Franklin said.

A total of 16 fires were caused by meth labs, and nine of those
happened by the middle of May.

"That is positive, but once again, this method of production is not
scientific. You can do everything right 10 times, and on the 11th
time it can cause a fire and nothing that they are doing was wrong,"
Franklin said.

He noted that 52 meth labs were found in structures that are
classified as multifamily dwellings, which include apartment
complexes, hotels and motels.

"Those are a big problem because the individuals around it may not
know that the production of meth is taking place," Franklin said.

Meth-lab fires at two apartment complexes resulted in the deaths of
three people last year.

Four people, including Maria Martinez, 39, and Armando Nunez, 35,
were seriously injured in a March 10 fire at the Royal Arms
Apartments, 5119 S. Norfolk Ave.

Martinez and Nunez, both of whom later died, were in an apartment
near the one that contained the meth lab, and they had no connection
to the man who is accused of manufacturing the drug, police said.

Sean Ketcher, 28, died from injuries he received when the meth he
reportedly was cooking burst into flames March 30 at Comanche Park, a
Tulsa Housing Authority complex at 36th Street North and Peoria
Avenue. Three children were also in the apartment while the meth was
being cooked, police said.

Authorities removed 34 children from locations where meth was being
produced last year, a Tulsa World analysis shows.

Five labs were found inside businesses, and 32 were discovered in
vehicles that may have been driving around on city streets when
police stopped them.

The World analysis of police records also shows that 120 meth labs
were dumped on streets, in fields or in trash containers where
unsuspecting people could come into contact with the hazardous chemicals.

The spike in the number of labs has also put an additional strain on
narcotics officers, firefighters and Public Works employees who help
clean up the labs. On many days authorities are literally going from
lab to lab.

The Police Department has had to reorganize the way officers are
dispatched to dismantle the labs, since the federal funds allotted
for that purpose were being depleted.

The time it takes to remove and clean up the labs varies, depending
on where they are found and how much damage they cause, Franklin said.

Increases in the number of labs have been noted in communities
statewide, but the problem is more pronounced in northeastern
Oklahoma, said Mark Woodward with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics
and Dangerous Drugs Control.

"That is where the recipe for this method started to take off, but it
could just be a matter of time before it spreads to other places,"
Woodward said.

Other states are also reporting increases in labs because of the
one-pot method, he said.

Franklin said police have been working with the District Attorney's
Office to get stiffer sentences for meth cooks.

In November, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs
Control launched new initiatives to try to curb the illicit use of
pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient for manufacturing
methamphetamine.

The purchaser's birth date is now required, in addition to the full
name and a state-issued identification number. The added security
measure should help eliminate sales to people using fake or multiple
identification cards.

After the measure was put in place, 600 sales were blocked, which is
"potentially 600 meth labs stopped," Woodward said. "Every time we
hear of a loophole, we try and do something about it."

Meth labs in Tulsa: View a map that shows where Tulsa police have found meth labs since January 2008. http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/itemsofinterest/tulsa_methlabs/tulsa_methlabs.html