METH BUSTS IN COLORADO ON DECLINE

Laws And Public Awareness Are Credited For The Decrease

ENGLEWOOD - A weird smell wafted from the big recreational vehicle as
it rolled through the streets Wednesday. Someone caught a whiff and
called police.

When officers pulled the vehicle over at West Radcliff Avenue and
South Navajo Street a short time later, they discovered the source of
the strange odor. The RV was a rolling methamphetamine lab.

Police arrested the two people inside the RV and started
decontaminating them and the contents of the vehicle.

"That's our No. 1 (drug) problem," said Jim Ulrich, an Englewood
police spokesman. "It's a lot more common than you'd like to think it is."

Many law enforcement agencies have tabbed meth as their No. 1 problem
lately. But the number of meth seizures and lab busts has declined
this year after nearly a decade of steady increases.

The Englewood bust came a day after a national report in which 58
percent of about 500 counties surveyed reported meth as their biggest
problem in terms of drug-related arrests.

The report by the National Association of Counties also found that 40
percent of the 303 child welfare agencies surveyed reported an
increase in the number of children being removed from homes because
of methamphetamine use.

"County governments across America are on the front line of
responding to the methamphetamine crisis," said association President
Angelo D. Kyle.

But in Colorado, the numbers that once tracked a steady increase in
methamphetamine trafficking have declined sharply.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the number of meth
labs raided in Colorado declined from about 400 in 2003 to 245 in 2004.

Meth seizures are also down in Colorado. The DEA recovered 23.2
kilograms of meth in 2004. So far this year, it has confiscated 9.2 kilograms.

Seizures by other Colorado law enforcement agencies are also down.
Last year, non-DEA raids seized 34 kilograms. So far this year, 5.8
kilograms have been confiscated.

Karen Flowers, a DEA spokeswoman, credited the decrease to greater
public awareness and laws that limit the sale of products used to
manufacture methamphetamine.

Law enforcement officials say they also have been able to make a dent
in meth manufacturing by combining resources.

Logan County Sheriff Don Bollish said eastern Colorado had a growing
meth problem when he took office in 1995.

However, three years ago, the counties of Logan, Phillips, Sedgwick,
Morgan, Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson formed the Eastern Colorado
Plains Drug Task Force with help from a federal grant.

Law enforcement officials, however, are concerned about cuts to the
federal funds that helped them gain ground against the meth makers.

One source of funding has been the Edward Byrne Memorial fund, named
after an officer killed in the line of duty during a meth bust.

The budget submitted by the Bush administration recommended
eliminating $650 million that had gone for the program.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers who call themselves the meth caucus
pushed to have that funding restored. So far, a congressional
committee has earmarked $348 million for the program, a 45 percent
cut from last year's funding.

In Colorado, those cuts meant about $150,000 less for the North Metro
Drug Task Force, now in its 14th year.

Task Force Commander Lt. Lori Moriarity said police departments that
make up the task force were able to come up with the difference.

But she worries what will happen if more cuts occur in the future.

Moriarity said she realizes that other drugs, such as marijuana, far
outweigh methamphetamine in terms of the amount seized.

But the corrosive impact of a drug like meth - in terms of health,
environmental and social services problems - can't be measured simply
in kilograms, she said.

"So many other crimes revolve around the meth use," she said, citing
forgery and child sex abuse. "It's a totally different subculture."

[Sidebar]
Colorado Meth Busts

Number of labs raided

2003: 400

2004: 245

Meth seized in DEA raids (in kilograms)

2004: 23.2

2005: (year to date) 9.2

Meth seized by other Colorado law enforcement agencies (in kilograms)

2004: 34

2005: (year to date) 5.8