METH ARRESTS HAVE DECLINED

BLOOMINGTON -- Methamphetamine-related arrests are down in parts of Central
Illinois, but police say cooks are still in business.

"We take the threat very seriously that it's potentially one of the most
dangerous drugs that exists," said McLean County Sheriff David Owens.

The drug's use is probably still rising, said Owens, though related arrests
dropped in McLean County last year.

Police in smaller communities -- particularly in southern and western
Illinois -- are struggling to keep up with the drug, Owens said, and about
60 Illinois State Police were recently devoted to meth cases and cleanup of
the drug's chemical waste.

"That doesn't really send a message that the problem's decreasing," said Owens.

Christopher Hoyt, spokesman for the Chicago division of the Drug
Enforcement Administration, said the drug also recently arrived in some of
the state's larger urban areas.

Hoyt said DEA agents have been called to 14 meth material cleanups in
northern Illinois in the past five months, including two in Chicago,
compared with 17 the previous 12 months.

Methamphetamine lab busts in Illinois dropped more than 40 percent from
2003 to 2004, according to figures on the DEA's Web site. Police seized 440
labs last year, the lowest number since 2001.

But officials in the DEA's Springfield office, which covers the Twin City
area, said they have not seen a drop in the amount of meth found, Hoyt
said. Rather, police found fewer sites needing hazardous-material cleanup,
he said

Tazewell County Sheriff Robert Huston said his office discovered fewer meth
labs last year than when the drug first arrived, but he agreed meth remains
a problem.

Tazewell was one of the first in Illinois to fight meth, he said; Pekin
battled about a dozen building fires in 2002 alone because of meth labs. Up
to 30 people in Tazewell County have been charged with federal drug crimes
the last two years, Huston said, with some sentenced to life in prison.

The drop in arrests in McLean County tells Owens it's become harder for
cooks to fill their shopping lists. But that doesn't mean they've given up.

"I'd venture to say it's happening, but maybe not in a high enough level
that we're getting intelligence on it," Owens said.

Methamphetamine moved east across the U.S., arriving in the St. Louis area
within the last seven years. The drug moved into Illinois, and now police
are starting to find meth labs along the East Coast, Hoyt said.

David Jocson, commander of the state police drug task force for McLean,
Livingston, and DeWitt counties, attributes the fewer labs to police being
told more often about suspicious activity and to store owners reducing
access to items needed by meth cooks.

"There are incidences of individuals being arrested with materials that are
ultimately destined for a laboratory ...," Jocson said. "But what has
happened is the police response is quick, and what you're seeing is a lot
of guys are being arrested before they're able to set up."