STEUBEN AVOIDS METH EPIDEMIC

The warnings have come one after another, usually in alarming terms
such as "epidemic" and "devastation." Methamphetamine, we are told, is
a monster at the gates.

All indications so far suggest Steuben County is keeping that monster
in check. The number of meth-related arrests in the past year can be
counted on one hand. The number of addicts seeking treatment is
similarly low.

Experts say it is anybody's guess how long the defenses will
hold.

"There is a lot of buzz in the law enforcement community," said
Assistant District Attorney Brooks Baker. "It has the capacity to
become our biggest drug problem very rapidly. It's so close that it is
clearly going to be an issue."

The drug - sometimes called "poor man's cocaine" - is a powerful
stimulant that provides users with a rush of euphoria and
invulnerability. Long-term side effects can include paranoia and brain
damage.

Among its chief attractions to addicts and pushers alike is that it
can be made cheaply with household chemicals in clandestine "labs" and
sold at enormous profit. By one government estimate, a $500 investment
can yield methamphetamine worth $30,000.

Its makers tend to favor rural areas where they can cook the drug
without having the pungent, ether-like odor attract attention. They
also prefer easy access to anhydrous ammonia, a farm chemical used to
make the drug.

Steuben County fits that profile exactly.

"I guess you could say it has the topography," said Joe Veon, interim
director of the Mercycare Addiction Treatment Center in Hornell.

The inpatient drug rehabilitation center treats more than 250 patients
a year from throughout Western New York. Fewer than 10 patients last
year underwent treatment related to methamphetamine and none were from
Steuben County, Veon said.

"We're not seeing a lot, which surprises me," he said. "I had expected
an epidemic."

two meth labs in 2004 - one in East Corning and the other in the town
of Hartsville. Neither resulted in a drug conviction.

The man arrested in the Hartsville case, David T. Shepherd, was sent
to prison in March for illegally possessing a vehicle identification
number. The other suspected meth-maker, Louis A. Paulo, of Corning,
went back to the lockup on a parole violation.

Neighboring counties have enjoyed less good fortune.

The Sheriff's Department in Bradford County, Pa., on March 31 marked
the first anniversary of the slayings of Deputies Michael VanKuren and
Christopher Burgert. They were fatally shot in a Wells Township
junkyard while trying to serve a warrant on a suspected meth
manufacturer.

The northern Pennsylvania county has encountered more problems since
then.

In March, a Bradford County man and his daughters were charged with
operating a methamphetamine lab. In February, a foursome from Towanda,
Pa., was arrested near the Arnot Mall in Big Flats on meth-related
charges.

"It is a monumental problem in Bradford County," Baker said. "It's
there in a way that's just plain scary."

Meth labs pose a distinct set of hazards because the manufacturing
process produces volatile chemicals and toxic by-products. A 2004
report by the New York State Commission of Investigation estimates
each pound of meth generates six pounds of toxic waste.

In New York state, nearby Tioga and Chemung counties rank first and
third for meth production, U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer said in an
August tour of the Southern Tier. Police took down a combined 44 labs
in those counties in the past five years, he said.

The comparatively low number of busts in Steuben County, immediately
to their west, may paint a misleading picture, Steuben County Chief
Deputy Joel Ordway said.

"Our informants give us accurate numbers," he said. "The meth is here.
Pennsylvania folks know that New York doesn't have laws that can
hammer them. Right now our hands are tied."

The laws in New York make prosecuting meth dealers a difficult
proposition because officers have to catch them with the finished
product in hand, Baker said.

There is no statute barring anyone from possessing any one of the
ingredients used in the drug's manufacture - even though police insist
there is no legitimate reason for someone to have 1,500 tablets of
pseudoephedrine, Ordway said.

A package of stricter legislation is now making its way through the
state Legislature. It would create new felony charges for owning any
one ingredient with the intention to make meth and impose stricter
standards on property owners who allow meth production.

One of its sponsors is State Sen. George H. Winner Jr.,
R-Elmira.

"While you (in Steuben County) are fortunate, the fact that the
surrounding areas have a larger presence of this means it's probably
coming your way," he said.

"I don't like that they're producing a lot of this in my district.
That's not something I want to hang out as a tourist attraction. I'm
being facetious, but it's a problem here and somebody's got to lead
the charge."

For now, crystal meth trails far behind crack cocaine, alcohol and
marijuana among the drugs of choice for Steuben County abusers, Ordway
said.

Most of the energy of police is still going toward those problems, he
said. That does not mean that methamphetamine is floating under the
radar, however.

"As we get the community aware of what meth is, what it smells like,
and those things that go along with meth labs, it may well blossom,"
Baker said. "We're going to see more and more of it, there's no question."