METH USE APPEARS ON DECLINE IN POLK

Polk County once was considered the methamphetamine capital of
Florida, but that reputation no longer is warranted, Sheriff Grady Judd said.

The number of methamphetamine labs seized in the past two years has
dropped significantly, according to Sheriff's Office statistics.

In 2002, law enforcers in Polk uncovered 17 meth labs. The next year,
they found 13 labs.

But in 2004 and 2005 deputies seized just six labs in Polk County each year.

Judd said the reason investigators are uncovering fewer labs isn't
because they can't find them -- it's because there aren't as many in
the county as before.

"The good news is we think methamphetamine use is down and the
availability is down," Judd said recently. "The indicators are there
is less crank [a street name for meth] than there has been."

Judd points to the local drug task force and a federal grant as
crime-fighting tools that are keeping meth use down.

He also thinks the state law limiting sales of pseudoephedrine-based
medicine, a key ingredient used to make methamphetamine, is curbing
the manufacturing locally.

But while meth use may be down in Polk, another drug is becoming more
prevalent -- cocaine.

From 2000 to 2002, 452 pounds of methamphetamine were seized by the
Sheriff's Office. In 2003-05, 277 pounds were uncovered -- a 39
percent decrease.

Cocaine seizures, on the other hand, increased during the same
period, Sheriff's Office statistics show.

Forty-three pounds of cocaine were seized from 2000 to 2002. From
2003 to 2005, 128 pounds of the drug were uncovered, the Sheriff's Office said.

"There is a market that is created out there. . . . When one drug
dries up, then it's usually replaced by another drug," Judd said.

But sheriff's officials in adjacent Osceola County said they have not
experienced the drop in methamphetamine cases that Polk has. In 2001,
Osceola deputy sheriffs uncovered five methamphetamine labs in their
jurisdiction. By 2005, that number has skyrocketed to 21 lab
seizures, said sheriff's spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain. So far this
year, four such labs have been busted in Osceola, she said Thursday.

"In general, we've seen an increase in drugs," she said. "As more
people come to the county, we're going to see an increase in everything."