POLK KICKS METH MECCA REPUTATION

Receding Arrest Rates Reflect No Laboratory Busts So Far This Year

LAKELAND -- Once upon a time, Polk County held the dubious, if
unofficial, title of Meth Capital of Florida.

That seems to be changing.

In 2002, 17 methamphetamine labs were busted by the Polk County
Sheriff's Office.

In 2003, 13 labs were busted. In 2004 and 2005, six labs were busted,
but so far in 2006, while individual users have been arrested for
possession, the Sheriff's Office has yet to find a single laboratory.
The federal Drug Enforcement Agency has shut down one.

By comparison, the DEA has shut 18 in Brevard County, an east coast
county with population comparable to Polk.

"It's a pleasure to be able to say now, I don't think that Polk
County is the meth capital of Florida any more," said David Waller,
special agent supervisor with the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement, which often works with the Sheriff's Office in drug
investigations.

However, the fact that there's less methamphetamine being
manufactured here doesn't necessarily mean that there's less meth use
in Polk County, law enforcement agents and drug treatment volunteers say.

Investigators have said in the past that as much as 90 percent of
methamphetamine used in Polk County is smuggled in rather than made
locally. But recent arrest and seizure trends point to an across-
theboard slowdown in the meth trade.

In 2005, there were 205 methamphetamine-possession arrests, and 75
more serious trafficking arrests. So far in 2006, there have been 53
possession arrests and seven trafficking arrests.

It's a trend that's being seen around the country.

"Official Sees Drop In Local Meth Labs," read a headline this week in
the Hudson Star Observer in Hudson, Wis. "Meth Labs Decrease
Statewide," declared The Mountain Times, a North Carolina newspaper.

"Sheriff Reports Drop in Seizures of Meth Labs," announced the
Greenville Sun of Tennessee.

There are several factors behind the disappearing meth lab
phenomenon, authorities say.

A law that took effect in Florida on July 1 limited the amount of
pseudophedrine that could be sold in drug stores. The overthe-counter
cold medicine is one of the key ingredients in methamphetamine.

Similar laws have been passed in many states.

"Up until recently, individuals would just walk into drug stores and
buy all the pseudoephedrine they needed," FDLE agent Waller said.
"Now they can't go in and buy more than three packs."

Instead of making their own, addicts and dealers are buying from
Mexican drug gangs, he said.

Mexico has not passed any laws regulating the sale of
pseudoephedrine, so drug gangs there buy it in mass quantities,
produce methamphetamine in bulk and smuggle it across the border.
What drug agents are seeing a lot more of is a particularly pure form
of methamphetamine, called ice, Waller said.

Another factor in the successful elimination of local meth labs is an
increased police focus on the issue, according to Polk County Sheriff
Grady Judd.

"We've got two different federal grants, and also, we're working as a
team with local police departments, state and federal law
enforcement, focusing on the problem of the production and sale of
methamphetamine."

But not all is good news.

As meth arrests and seizures decline, the Sheriff's Office has seen a
corresponding rise in cocaine arrests and seizures, according to
agency statistics.

From 2000-2002, there were 453.1 pounds of methamphetamine and 43.5
pounds of cocaine seized by the Sheriff's Office. From 2003-2005,
there were 277 pounds of methamphetamine seized and 128.5 pounds of
cocaine seized.

That represents a 39 percent decrease in methamphetamine seizures and
a 195 percent increase in cocaine seizures.

"There's a market for drugs in every community. When the supply of
one type of drug dries up, another one comes along," Judd said.

And volunteers who work with drug addicts are far from declaring
victory over methamphetamine.

Libbie Combee, head of Polk County Mothers Against Methamphetamine
Abuse, said that she has heard that methamphetamine is harder to get
at the moment, but addiction is still as strong as ever.

"There's been a dry spell, but that's not uncommon. During that dry
spell, you'll see an increase in cocaine and other drugs, because
they'll pretty much use whatever's out there," Combee said. "But I
still very much deal with addicts every single week. There's still
plenty of meth out there and plenty of meth addicts."

The labs though, she agrees, seem to have been driven out of the
county. "I think the labs are totally gone."