METH LABS MAY SIGNAL EPIDEMIC

CLINTON - The evidence pointed to a rolling methamphetamine lab in May
when a man crashed his SUV into a Clinton gas station.

What police uncovered were the remnants of a lab. They found a bag of
meth, two propane tanks and gloves inside the SUV.

The incident marked one of the first times a meth lab or a portion of
a lab had been found within the Clinton city limits. Others have been
found in rural areas of Sampson County.

More crystal meth labs have been found in Sampson than in any other
county east of Interstate 95 so far this year. The labs were initially
more predominant in the western part of the state but have become more
common in the east.

"It's getting to be a big problem around here," said Clinton police
Detective Chris Cantrell. "We haven't seen the full blown evidence of
it yet."

Lawmen, legislators and social workers say they have united to fight
the trend. Authorities say their efforts have led to the discovery of
nine methamphetamine labs in Sampson County since January. Lawmen
suspect there are more and that Sampson is not alone.

"It's everywhere," said Sheriff Jimmy Thornton. "They are not all
concentrated in one little spot."

Typically, meth labs flourish in rural areas where the chemical smell
generated during production and the traffic of drug dealers and buyers
are harder to detect, said Van Shaw, a special agent with the State
Bureau of Investigation who handles clandestine lab busts. Eventually,
the more experienced cooks learn ways to mask the odor and begin to
move their operations into cities.

Police believe the man who crashed into the Clinton gas station had
been running a meth lab, but they couldn't charge him with making meth
because all the ingredients were gone. He was charged with other offenses.

At the time, the man was high on the drug and had two propane tanks
floating in icy water in the back of his SUV. Meth cooks store one of
their ingredients, anhydrous ammonia, in propane tanks and pack the
tanks in ice to prevent the vapor pressure from building and the tank
from rupturing. Police said the man had gone to the station to steal
brake fluid for the SUV.

Meth labs pose health and environmental risks, authorities said.
People should be aware of the dangers and report any suspicions to
police, said Cumberland County Sheriff Moose Butler.

Over the past several years, lawmen in Cumberland County have
discovered at least four meth labs, Butler said. The most recent was
found in a trailer off I-95 about a year and a half ago, Butler said.

While drug agents have not had any reports of meth labs in the county
this year, he said, they suspect that some could be out there. His
deputies are instructed to look for signs of meth labs when they
conduct other investigations, Butler said. Knowing what to look for is
crucial to uncovering the labs.

Cheap materials

Part of meth's appeal, authorities say, is that it is cheap to make
and the materials can be bought at a drug store. Instructions to make
meth can be found on the Internet. "You can do it in a bucket so it's
not like it takes an elaborate system to produce it," said Thornton,
the Sampson County sheriff.

Meth usually comes as a white powder and can be snorted or smoked. The
drug affects the nervous system and causes sleeplessness and loss of
appetite. The cost of the drug varies but it usually sells for $100
per gram.

The drug can spread fast, Shaw said, because meth cooks teach others
how to make it. The concept seems odd to some people, Shaw said,
because they perceive it as teaching the competition. But most people
who make meth use it. "You may be out or missing a chemical," he said,
"and now you have friends to go to. It's not a comparative thing
because the market isn't there."

The only other lab discovered in the Cape Fear region this year was in
Harnett County. Statewide, more than 200 meth labs have been uncovered
since January. Most of the labs were found in the western part of the
state.

Five years ago, lawmen predicted that methamphetamine traffic in North
Carolina would grow. The SBI raided nine meth labs in 1999 and 322 in
2004. Attorney General Roy Cooper estimates that nearly 500 labs will
be discovered in the state this year. He said the state is doing what
it can to stop the trend.

State lawmakers have toughened penalties for people who produce meth,
who make it in front of children or who are caught with ingredients to
make the drug. They want to limit access to cold medicines that
contain pseudoephedrine - a key ingredient in meth. State lawmakers
are considering a bill that would require cold and allergy medicines
that contain pseudoephedrine to be pulled from store shelves and put
behind the pharmacy counter. Stores that do not have pharmacies would
have to move the medicines to a customer service counter.

"You have to take steps to prevent the criminals from getting the
ingredients," Cooper said. States such as Oklahoma that have stopped
carrying pseudoephedrine tablets on store shelves have reduced the
number of meth labs by 80 percent, he said.

Meth task force

In 2004, Sampson County created a meth task force composed of about 20
county and school officials, lawmen, social workers and public health
and mental health workers.

The task force developed a plan that identified four goals: early
intervention, raising public awareness, writing a response plan and
training.

Since it was formed in November, the group has developed a protocol
for caring for children who are found inside meth homes, started a Web
site and distributed fliers to schools, churches and civic groups
explaining the dangers of meth. And as the county jail fills with meth
users, the task force is searching for ways to get people help before
they are arrested.

"Mom and pop" meth labs account for about 15 percent of the state's
meth use, said J.W. Simmons, chairman of the Sampson County task
force. The drug continues to be imported from Mexico and from large
labs on the West Coast. That's why the task force is finding ways to
help the drug-addicted while fighting the spread of the meth labs.

"The more people we put in the jail," Simmons said, "the more burden
we have not only on the families but on society." While drug users are
committing crimes, he said, jail may not be the best place because
they are not getting the help they need. Simmons, a certified law
enforcement officer, is the director of lifelong learning at Sampson
Community College.

Getting help

The task force plans to establish avenues for drug users to get them
help through counseling. Addiction is a disease, Simmons said, and
should be treated as such.

Jack St. Clair, the director for Eastpointe Area Mental Health which
serves Sampson County, said it usually takes six months to a year for
someone to go through a drug abuse program, but the state lacks
resources for people who need long-term care. St. Clair, a member of
the Sampson County Meth Task Force, said the group is searching for
money to establish programs that provide intervention and prevention.

While the majority of drug users who seek help at Eastpointe are not
addicted to meth, St. Clair said, it is only a matter of time before
they start treating more meth addicts.

"We know it's here," he said. "We know it's an epidemic that's just at
the back door."