PURER STRAIN OF METH FINDING ITS WAY TO CITY

A pure form of highly addictive methamphetamine known as "ice" is slowly
but surely gaining popularity in the Texarkana area.

"It's a lot like crack was for a while. You heard about in other places and
then it started moving in," said Capt. Toby Giles, chief deputy for the
Miller County Sheriff's Department.

The Arkansas Crime Laboratory in Little Rock has seen an increase in ice
cases in 2004 and the drug has turned up several undercover narcotics
operations in the central and northwest parts of the state.

In Bowie and Miller counties, it has not been seen as frequently but it has
been found and arrests have been made.

Addicts love it because it is so pure.

"It's pretty common. It's a lot stronger than regular meth," Giles said.

Ice is 80 percent pure. It comes in the form of large crystals and looks
like rock candy. Users generally smoke the drug in a glass pipe.

Unlike ordinary meth, ice is odorless and usually colorless.

For the most part, it is not made in Arkansas.

It is typically smuggled in from California where large labs are able to
crank out up to 100 pounds at a time.

In the past, police say most local meth cooks are not capable of making ice
because they need more complicated chemicals than what they have.

But that is changing.

"They are taking those extra steps (to make ice)" Giles said.

Giles said deputies have made about a dozen arrests for ice in the past two
years and are starting to hear more about the drug on the streets.

In January 2004, narcotics investigators with the Arkansas State Police
made one arrest and seized two pounds of ice that was en route from Dallas
to North Central Arkansas when they made a traffic stop on Interstate 30.

Arkansas State Police Corp. Jeff Thomas, who works drug interdiction on
Interstate 30, said while some ice was confiscated in early 2004, it has
not really been a problem in recent months.

"I busted a local guy back in April for having a couple of grams but we
have not made any big arrests. We hope that its not going to be much of a
problem," he said.