ALASKA, U.S. GET TOUGH ON METH

WASHINGTON--When local police visited an assisted-living facility near
Pittsburgh, Pa., they found employees cooking more than just the evening
meal--authorities seized a lab used to make methamphetamine.

Police also made two of the more than 400 arrests that were part of the
first nationally coordinated operation aimed at producers and sellers of
the highly addictive drug.

Authorities announced Tuesday the results of Operation Wildfire, a
cooperative effort among police in more than 200 communities--including
Fairbanks, Anchorage and Wrangell--and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
More than 200 pounds of the drug and 56 labs were seized.

In Fairbanks, investigators with the Alaska Bureau of Alcohol and Drug
Enforcement last Wednesday morning executed a search warrant in connection
with a small mobile methamphetamine lab.

Sgt. Ron Wall, Fairbanks ABADE supervisor, said no arrests have been made
in connection with the warrant. He said he could not comment further on the
case.

"We are still actively investigating it," he said.

Though methamphetamine is getting national attention now, Wall said it has
been a problem in Fairbanks for years and one the bureau has been working
to eradicate. The investigation that prompted the Wednesday warrant wasn't
spurred by the nationwide push, he said, but the bureau was aware of the
effort.

"We knew the push was going on and we actively attempted to execute this to
help the push," Wall said. "We are glad to see that it is actually getting
a lot of publicity."

Bureau investigators also served a search warrant on a suspected lab in the
Caswell Lakes area near Wasilla, according to a news release from the
Alaska State Troopers.

"The manufacturing and use of methamphetamine continues to be a problem
throughout Alaska," said Captain Ed Harrington, commander of ABADE, in the
press release. "Statewide drug enforcement is one of the Alaska State
Trooper's six core missions. We continually work to be proactive in
fighting the supply of drugs in Alaska."

Elsewhere in the country, eight counties in rural western North Carolina
accounted for 70 of the 427 arrests made nationwide.

Two elderly residents of the assisted-living facility in Donora, Pa., had
to be hospitalized for exposure to toxic chemicals from the meth lab, DEA
administrator Karen Tandy said. In Minneapolis, drug agents and police
seized a lab in a hotel across the street from an elementary school, Tandy
said.

"It's homemade, cheap and readily available," Tandy said of meth, noting
that after starting in the West, it has been found in every state.

Authorities also took custody of 30 children, including two in Missouri,
who were living in a bug-infested home where meth was being produced, she said.

The arrests followed intense criticism from members of Congress and local
law enforcement that the federal government is not doing enough to combat
the use of methamphetamine. More than half the 500 sheriffs in a recent
survey called meth their top problem, far surpassing cocaine and marijuana.

Local officials applauded the results announced Tuesday, calling them good
first steps. But the administration has proposed eliminating $804 million
in grants to local authorities in drug-fighting efforts, said Joe Dunn,
assistant legislative director for the National Association of Counties.

"We'd like them to reverse that decision," Dunn said, noting Congress
appears likely to restore at least $400 million.

Methamphetamine, which can come in the form of a crystal-like powder or
rock-like chunks, is an addictive stimulant that can be smoked, snorted,
injected or taken orally. Its street names include "ice," "crystal,"
"speed" and "tina."

Meth can be made using ingredients in over-the-counter cold medicines,
prompting a dozen states to pass laws forcing stores to remove medicines
containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine from shelves.

At least 12 million people have tried meth, according to the National
Survey on Drug Use and Health. Authorities have dismantled more than 50,000
clandestine meth labs since 2001.

Far more people use marijuana, but Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
recently said meth has overtaken marijuana as the greatest danger to children.

Gonzales has led an administration-wide effort to respond to those who say
the meth problem was being ignored until recently. Tandy and McGregor
Scott, the U.S. attorney in Sacramento, Calif., recited lengthy lists of
law enforcement actions and prosecutions aimed at meth.

"We have been dealing with this issue for years," Gonzales said at a
Justice Department news conference.

Gonzales said he spoke Monday with his Mexican counterpart, Daniel Cabeza
de Vaca, about finding ways to stem the movement of meth from Mexican labs
to the United States. The government estimates that roughly two-thirds of
the meth in the United States comes from Mexico.

U.S. officials also are working with Mexicans to try to control shipments
of pseudoephedrine and other raw materials used in meth from other
countries, Tandy said,

The DEA also unveiled an anti-meth Web site aimed at teens,
www.justthinktwice.com.

The Bush administration earlier this month announced a training laboratory
for police agencies and $16.2 million in grants to focus on treatment of
meth addicts.

On the Net:

List of local participants in Operation Wildfire: http://www.dea.gov/pubs/-
pressrel/pr083005a.html

Drug Enforcement Administration: http://www.dea.gov

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America: http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/