PERDUE WARNS OF GROWING METH USE

ATLANTA - Georgia officials depicted the growing trend of methamphetamine
use in uniquely Southern terms - Gov. Sonny Perdue said use of the
addictive drug was growing like kudzu - but the numbers told the drug's
true story.

Meth cases in the state have more than doubled over three years, jumping
from 854 cases to more than 1,800 in 2003.

"By one analysis, we're on pace to have more than 2,000 rural meth seizures
this year - a record, a record we don't cherish," Perdue said Tuesday at a
summit, which brought together police, drug treatment experts and lawmakers
over a two-day period to devise recommendations for their communities and
the state.

Part of the drug's popularity stems from how easy it is to make. The sample
meth lab set up outside the conference room looked more like a toolshed
than a drug manufacturing center. A pile of matches, a few household
products and a handful of chemicals that can be obtained at a local
hardware store were on the table.

And that ease has made production of meth particularly problematic in rural
areas where the toxic fumes created during its production go unnoticed.

"LSD needs a certified chemist, but meth can be made in pots and pans,"
said Sherri Strange, a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent.

Two years ago, when Strange helped oversee drug enforcement officials in
Oklahoma, officers were finding two or three meth labs a day. "We were at
our wits' end," she said. "We couldn't arrest ourselves out of the situation."

After Oklahoma held a similar summit, legislators passed a law that
requires anyone buying over-the-counter cold medications that can be used
to make the potent drug to show photo identification and sign for the purchase.

Strange said the bans helped the state log a 75 percent reduction in meth
labs. "It changed the history of Oklahoma," she said.

Perdue didn't promise a similar legislative response. The governor said he
didn't want meth to be the "cause du jour" in this year's legislative
session, and drug enforcement officials warned of the power of drug
companies in almost hushed tones.

"The pharmaceutical industry has their own ideas, and they're a very, very,
very, very powerful lobby," said Phillippa LeVine, a DEA officer.

The state, though, has already passed tougher punishments for people who
make and sell meth. It's a felony in Georgia to possess more than 300
over-the-counter cold pills, which is used to produce meth. It's also a
felony to possess any amount of anhydrous ammonia, a common fertilizer,
with the intent of making meth.

Parents and caregivers can also be held criminally accountable for reckless
child endangerment in meth-related cases, a law which also creates a
separate felony for making meth in the presence of a child.

Perdue said four children have died in rural Georgia so far this year in
suspected meth-related cases.

Summitgoers also stressed the environmental effects of meth. Every pound of
meth produced yields five to six pounds of toxic waste, which is often
dumped into waterways and the sewage system. The DEA estimates it will
spend $15.7 million this year to clean up meth labs, and if a lab is found
on private property, the high-priced cleanup bill goes to the private
landowner.

Perdue urged officials to work together and avoid turf battles.

"I know I paint a grim picture," he said. "That's because it's a grim
situation."

'By one analysis, we're on pace to have more than 2,000 rural meth seizures
this year - a record, a record we don't cherish.' Gov. Sonny Perdue