GROWTH OF METHAMPHETAMINE USE NEW WORRY FOR REGION

The Pittsburgh region has never been known for being on the cutting edge of
trends, but that's not always a bad thing.

Graphic: Meth lab incidents on the rise
(http://www.post-gazette.com/popup.asp?img=http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050731methlab-stats.gif)

Just ask area law-enforcement officials who are dreading the arrival of
methamphetamine and its attendant health, crime, public safety and
environmental ramifications as the highly addictive drug moves eastward
from Western and Southwestern states.

"This is one area where it's good to be behind," U.S. Attorney Mary Beth
Buchanan said, noting that while methamphetamine production and abuse are
major problems in states such as California, Arizona, Oklahoma and Kansas,
the Northeast drug market still is dominated by heroin and cocaine.

Meth abuse in southwestern Pennsylvania appears to be so small that
Pittsburgh police have not arrested anyone on the street in possession of
the central nervous system stimulant, said police Cmdr. William Valenta
Jr., head of the narcotics unit. By contrast, heroin accounts for 80
percent of all Pittsburgh police drug seizures, confirming it as the drug
of choice here.

Laboratories in region

That's not to say meth use and clandestine laboratories aren't already here.

Authorities raided a lab in a trailer in Cranberry on July 22. City police
discovered a lab in February in the 500 block of South Graham Street in
Shadyside. In November, a lab was dismantled in McKees Rocks, forcing the
evacuation of 16 homes because of the potential explosiveness of chemicals
used in making meth.

A lab was hit in September 2003 in Brighton Heights. A month earlier, a lab
was discovered in Coraopolis; a month before that, Stowe police stumbled
upon one. And in March 2004, authorities broke up a methamphetamine ring
operating in Westmoreland and Armstrong counties.

Statewide, the Pennsylvania State Police Clandestine Laboratory Response
Team has been activated 89 times this year.

Capt. David F. Young, director of the state police Drug Law Enforcement
Division, estimated a year-end total of 160 activations, continuing a
recent tread of yearly increases. An activation includes raiding labs or
dealing with dumps where meth waste products are left or areas containing
chemicals that could make methamphetamine.

The team was called out 128 times last year, including 106 times for meth
labs, Young said. In 2003, the team responded 64 times, up from 34 in 2002.

Young said that while the increases were dramatic, it was necessary to keep
Pennsylvania's numbers in the context of other states' experiences. For
example, he said, law enforcement counterparts in Missouri average 11
call-outs a day, or about what Pennsylvania averages in a month.

Ohio and West Virginia are experiencing a higher occurrence than
Pennsylvania, with 281 and 159 incidents, respectively, according to 2004
statistics from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

"Meth is on the rise," said Lt. Rick Zwayer, a spokesman for the Ohio
Highway Patrol. "Our troopers are encountering it on more occasions."

In West Virginia, state police are finding clandestine labs in homes,
trailers and "just about anywhere you can cook that stuff," state police
Sgt. Jay Powers said.

What Pennsylvania police mostly are finding are labs designed to make small
batches for personal use. They aren't discovering the "superlabs" of the
West and Southwest, where Mexican drug rings produce large quantities for
distribution throughout the United States.

Mexicans taking over

The shift of large-scale meth production to Mexican networks is a change.
In the 1970s and 1980s, distribution was largely controlled by La Cosa
Nostra and the Pagans motorcycle gang. In the early 1980s, Philadelphia was
known as the meth capital of the nation.

Methamphetamine availability in the Northeast, especially in rural areas,
has increased over the past year, according to the 2005 National Drug
Threat Assessment report by the National Drug Intelligence Center,
headquartered in Johnstown. Nevertheless, the report said, availability
remains lower in this region than in any other part of the country.

Nationally, law enforcement agencies say, the threat associated with
methamphetamine trafficking and abuse has increased sharply since 2002 and
now exceeds that of any other drug.

The NDIC said the percentage of state and local police that identified meth
as the greatest drug threat in their areas had increased from 31 percent in
2002 to 36.2 percent in 2003 and 39.6 percent in 2004. Last year marked the
first time that methamphetamine as a threat surpassed cocaine (35.6
percent). Its ranking is much higher than marijuana (12 percent), heroin
(8.6 percent) and Ecstasy (0.6 percent).

Highly addictive

Methamphetamine can be smoked, inhaled or injected. It is a highly
addictive stimulant, similar in effect to cocaine but longer lasting and
much more intense, said Dr. Neil Capretto, medical director of Gateway
Rehabilitation Center.

Addicts sometimes go on binges lasting up to four days without sleep or
food, are agitated and paranoid and can suffer from chemical-induced
psychosis, all of which makes them potentially violent. And when addicts
"crash," or come down, they can become profoundly depressed and even
suicidal, Capretto said.

"That's what traps them because what they know will get them out of that is
more methamphetamine," he said .

Nevertheless, about 20 of the 5,000 to 7,000 people Gateway treats a year
are there for meth addiction. Most of them have been from Clarion, Venango
and Crawford counties, Capretto said.

"We've been lucky in Western Pennsylvania because the problem for the most
part has missed us or has been minimal," he said.

Part of the problem in stemming meth use is that it can be made from
ingredients such as pseudoephedrine, found in over-the-counter cold and
allergy medications. Other ingredients commonly used in meth recipes
include hydrochloric acid, drain cleaner, battery acid, lye, lantern fuel
and antifreeze, all easily obtainable.

The mixture of such potentially volatile substances in confined spaces by
untrained and often high or crashing addicts presents the potential for
harming others, either through explosions or noxious vapors.

That's why officers who raid clandestine labs are trained in handling
hazardous materials and always have a chemist, firefighters, medics and
other public-safety personnel on hand.

"Unlike other drugs, this has the opportunity to impact the community worse
then anything else," Young, of the state police, said.

Buchanan, the U.S. attorney, said meth production was on the rise,
particularly in the rural counties south of Erie.

Several of the labs busted in the northern counties were set up by
distributors, she said, not by those making meth for themselves. Of the
Pittsburgh-area meth labs, Buchanan said, only the one found in McKees
Rocks was capable of making enough for distribution.

Despite the relatively small scale of the meth trade here, law enforcement
officials are preparing for its growth.

"We're pretty much ahead of the curve with enforcement, with training,"
Young said. "We probably are able to keep our numbers from getting out of
hand as a result of paying attention to what happened nationally as a trend.

"It didn't hit here first, so we had the luxury of seeing what happened out
West."

Pennsylvania is following other states in considering laws to battle the
problem. Bills have been introduced in the Legislature to regulate the
sales of cold medicines with meth ingredients.

Buchanan will meet in Harrisburg Aug. 8 with U.S. Rep. John Peterson,
R-Venango, and her counterparts in Harrisburg and Philadelphia to discuss
the growing threat.

West Virginia began this month restricting the purchase of over-the-counter
drugs containing ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or phenylpropanolamine. They
are not displayed openly, buyers must show identification and sign for the
purchase, and the seller must report transactions to the state.

The law is similar to one passed in Oklahoma, where the number of meth labs
reportedly has been reduced by more than 60 percent since its passage.

Oregon House members approved a bill this month that, if approved by the
state Senate, would make the state the first to require prescriptions for
medicine containing meth precursors.