METH MAKERS MAY CROSS BORDER FOR DRUG

Police say a new law passed by the state Legislature will help them battle
the methamphetamine problem, but law enforcement officials in counties that
border other states still face the problem of drug abusers going across
state lines to buy products containing pseudoephedrine.

The new law limits access to the drugs by forcing pharmacies to place them
behind counters.

In Parkersburg, a police task force that has been successful in beating
down the meth problem is prepared to assist officers in neighboring Ohio,
where such a law doesn't exist yet.

Capt. Rick Woodyard of the Parkersburg Violent Crime and Narcotics Task
Force said he would like to see some type of federal legislation that
limits access to pseudoephedrine.

But until that happens, his office is notifying its contemporaries in Ohio
about a possible influx of people looking to buy over-the-counter cold
medicine used to make meth.

"We still believe that the bill is going be very effective for West
Virginia," he said. "Border towns might still see a little bit of activity
simply because someone can cross the border."

Woodyard said law enforcement officials in Ohio are planning to introduce
similar legislation next year.

"We work really close with Washington County Sheriff's Department and the
Athens County Sheriff's Department, notifying them about the bill and
notifying them about a possible invasion into Ohio for the precursor
chemicals," he said.

Meanwhile, the current meth situation in Parkersburg and Wood County is
nothing compared to years past or what Kanawha and Putnam counties are
currently dealing with.

When the highly addictive drug first hit West Virginia about six years ago,
it took hold hard Wood County. At the height of the problem, police there
took down 57 labs in one year.

Meth, a drug made by isolating the active ingredient in pseudoephedrine
through a series of volatile chemical procedures, has been crossing the
nation since the 1960s.

Woodyard said his officers discovered the first lab in 1998. By 2002,
Parkersburg police were busting three a week in cars and homes.

When police realized a new, easily made drug had hit the streets, they
contacted the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Charleston for help.

With federal guidance, police were able to locate more labs. Before they
knew what they were dealing with, Woodyard said road patrol and other
officers might make a stop or respond to a 911 call and not recognize
chemicals used to make the drugs.

"Before, they would see three bottles of HEET and some cold medicine in the
backseat and think nothing of it," he said.

Eventually, Parkersburg police traced the local problem to a group of meth
cooks who had moved to Wood County from California. Police arrested members
of the group, but Woodyard said their techniques already had been passed on
to others.

In 2002, police made arrests connected to 57 labs.

Today, the problem has been substantially reduced. In 2003, 20 labs were
taken down, and Woodyard estimated the same amount were shut down in 2004.

Woodyard said the area covered by his officers, which includes Jackson,
Pleasants, Richie, Roane, Wirt and Wood counties, is one of the few areas
of the country that has successfully beaten back the meth problem.

He credited several initiatives for helping combat the problem, namely a
vigilant law enforcement community, but the problem decreased dramatically
after the officers learned many of the meth-making supplies were coming
from one place -- a business in Columbus, Ohio.

In the Kanawha Valley, police believe most of the meth is being produced by
people who buy their materials at a variety of department stores, hardware
stores and pharmacies.

A joint investigation involving the drug unit, State Police and the DEA
revealed that a lab in Columbus, Ohio, supplied many of the cooks in the
Wood County area with their materials. After a yearlong monitoring
operation, John Elliott Delong was arrested on federal charges of
conspiring to manufacture meth and now is serving a 188-month prison sentence.

Woodyard said he hopes once the governor signs the bill that limits
accesses to pseudoephedrine, other parts of the state can be spared the
devastation wrought by the drug.

"If you don't have the precursor, pseudoephedrine, you can have every other
ingredient, but you're not going to make meth," he said.