AN UPHILL BATTLE

OXFORD - Despite efforts by public and private citizens to curb the
manufacture and use of crystal meth, the drug just isn't going away.

In fact, a drug that was barely on the radar screen of local law
enforcement 10 years ago, crystal meth now accounts for the largest portion
of drug arrests at the local and state level.

In the past year, the number of meth arrests has increased at all levels, a
sign of the continuing problem.

In Mississippi, meth arrests were up more than 50 percent over the past
year and accounted for more than one-third of arrests made by state
narcotics agents.

Gov. Haley Barbour, in his state of the state address last week, termed
crystal meth "a horrible plague on our state" and encouraged legislators to
join other states that have passed laws to make its ingredients harder to
purchase.

Meth-related investigations at the local level are straining the finances
of law enforcement agencies.

Although a grant from the Drug Enforcement Administration pays for the
cleanup of meth labs, where the drug is made, the investigation and arrests
of meth users mainly falls on local agencies.

Pontotoc Sheriff Leo Mask reported 98 meth-related arrests in 2004,
compared to 39 charges of sale of a controlled substance. In comparison to
other crimes, meth arrests were twice as many as the total number of
burglary-related charges during the year.

One reason for the larger number of meth arrests is that the drug is
illegal in all forms - from just a few ingredients to the final product.

Manufacturing of the drug carries up to a 30-year prison term and the law
also prohibits the possession of certain amounts of the chemical or
precursors used in the manufacture of meth. Possession of two or more
precursors with intent to manufacture meth carries up to 20 years in
prison, while the charge of illegal possession of anhydrous ammonia carries
up to five years in prison.

Despite declines in some states, the number of meth arrests nationwide has
stayed steady with some states reporting dramatic increases.

Lee Sheriff Jim Johnson said the drug is dangerous because it affects all
age groups as opposed to other drugs that are more of a problem in people
over the age of 30.

"It is the one drug that targets everybody from 14 to 60. It is not
contained to any certain group," Johnson said.

Cheap To Make

Meth use is spreading because the drug is cheap and can be manufactured
from ingredients available at local stores. Recipes can be found throughout
the Internet.

For $100, meth cooks can easily produce about $1,000 street value of meth
in a day.

The process and chemicals used are dangerous, leading to more than 10,000
injuries each year, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Capt. Terry Spillers, who works in the
Oxford office, said at least two agents in the Northern district suffered
minor burns this year while taking samples from meth labs.

"It was nothing serious, but one of the guys was burned on the neck.
Luckily, he was wearing a mask that kept his face from being burned,"
Spillers said.

Sadly, meth cooks often endanger children as well as themselves. Last week
in Corinth, an explosion occurred in what law enforcement investigators
believe was a meth lab. Two people were seriously injured.

Spillers said it is not unusual to find children present at meth labs. In
fact, a recent partnership between the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and
the Department of Human Services will strengthen communication between law
enforcement and social workers making visits to homes that contain meth labs.

Barbour also addressed that danger in his plans for the coming year, saying
the state should toughen the punishment for drug offenders who manufacture
crystal meth in the presence of a child or are caught buying or selling
drugs in front of a child.

In The Air

Air surveillance is one way Lee County is monitoring isolated areas that
are attractive to meth cooks because of the distinctive odor made by
cooking the drug.

"That has been a major way we have been able to identify the abandoned
houses and trailers and remote buildings that aren't checked regularly," he
said.

As with other tactics, meth cooks are finding other places to cook meth,
including a growing number of mobile meth labs.

Johnson said his patrol officers have taken a special course to identify
possible mobile labs contained in trucks, vans and the trunks of cars.

Lee County is not the only place mobile labs are emerging.

This month, Union County officials arrested two men for having a meth lab
in the back of the pickup truck they were driving. The men drew suspicion
after purchasing several ingredients needed to make meth at a retail story
in New Albany.

In the mobile lab, authorities said they seized meth in the early stages of
production, as well as 10 grams of meth in a hotel room.

The mobile lab was one of several Union authorities have seized during the
past year.

At least some of the efforts to combat meth manufacturers have been
successful because agents are seeing more meth from other states.

"There's always a problem with little labs around here, but in the last
year it has been easier to make buys and seize meth that didn't originate
here," Spillers said.

He sees the growing presence of meth from other states as evidence that
some enforcement tactics are working.

"It has become harder for them to make it, so it looks like they are
getting it from other places," he said.

Awareness and cooperation are spreading at all levels of law enforcement.
The DEA has established a Meth Unit to the Oxford office, and state
narcotics agents have created a program to educate fire fighters and
business people of the signs of crystal meth from bare ingredients to final
product.

The goal is simply to tighten the laws as much as possible and hope to get
at least some of the drug dealers out of the community, said Johnson.

"It is definitely still a problem. I don't think we'll see the end of it in
my lifetime," he said.

Despite the uphill climb, it is a battle no one is willing to give up on.

"We are making progress. We used to go out every few days to process a
lab,and I have noticed we are not going out as much," Spillers said. "We've
passed laws to make it harder for cooks to get what they need, and we have
put a lot of the cooks in jail. We are making progress, and we will keep on
working to make it harder and harder to get."

What Is Crystal Meth?

Methamphetamine, called "crystal meth" for its white, crystal-like
appearance, is a stimulant that can be produced in home labs from chemicals
such as ether, brake cleaner, brick cleaner, battery acid and drain
openers. The end product can be smoked, snorted, ingested orally or
injected. Crystal meth is similar to its parent drug amphetamine in that it
feedS the brain the pleasure-producing chemical dopamine. However, it also
destroys dopamine receptors and renders the body unable to produce its own.
According to UCLA research, meth users lose about 1 percent of their brain
function each year, which is comparable to the progression of Alzheimer's,
and health providers compare meth addiction to that of heroin or crack cocaine.