METH ON THE RISE

Sunday's Lab Raid City's First; Officials Say It Won't Be the Last.

HICKORY - The methamphetamine lab officers busted over the weekend is
the first to be discovered in city limits.

It won't be the last, said Sgt. Chris LaCarter of the Hickory Police
Department.

"It's the first one we've discovered, but it's surely not the only one
in the city," LaCarter said.

Narcotics officers with the Catawba County Drug Task Force arrested
five people early Sunday in a raid at 629 Seventh St., SW, in
Hickory's Green Park neighborhood.

Commonly known as "crystal meth" or "crank," methamphetamine is a
highly addictive stimulant that produces a strong sense of euphoria.
The thing that makes it unique from other drugs, LaCarter said, is its
availability: Meth is easily made from common household products.

Sunday's raid is indicative of the drug's rise in popularity and its
movement into more populated areas, said Van Shaw, assistant special
agent in charge of the State Bureau of Investigation's Clandestine
Laboratory Response Program.

"It's becoming more an urban problem, just like it's been a rural
problem," Shaw said.

The number of meth labs discovered each year in North Carolina is on
the rise. In 2003, 177 labs were busted, Shaw said.

Sunday's lab is the 204th discovered so far in 2004.

The drug's do-it-yourself production methods contribute greatly to its
abuse, Shaw said. Users don't have to engage in risky trafficking
ventures or pay large sums of money to make the drug, he said.

"You can produce however much you want, whenever you want it," Shaw
said. "You're cutting out the middle man."

LaCarter said 95 percent of meth labs are small operations like the
one discovered Sunday. Known as "small cook" or "tweaker" labs, the
enterprises are the drug world's equivalent of subsistence farming:
Cookers make enough meth to feed their own habits, with a little extra
to sell to associates to earn enough money to make the next batch.

Shaw said his agency, which investigates all meth labs discovered in
North Carolina, has yet to see an instance where a lab cook was not
also a user.

"There's a profit potential in it," Shaw said, but added that meth's
addiction is so strong that if someone began making meth for profit,
his or her priority would probably eventually shift to feeding the
addiction.

Another aspect of the meth problem is the dangerous nature of the
drugmaking process. The chemicals used to make the drug are extremely
volatile and can cause explosions and health problems, officials have
said. Special response teams of SBI officials have to wear protective
suits when cleaning up the labs.

The meth problem has mushroomed to the point that the SBI has
undergone a widespread awareness plan, Shaw said. This year, more than
5,000 first-responders were trained to recognize signs of potential
meth labs.

"We've put an emphasis into going out and initiating a proactive
effort to try to knock out as many (labs) as possible," Shaw said.

Last month, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a law calling
for tougher penalties for the makers of the drug starting Dec. 1.

New legislation also provides for penalty enhancement when children
are living in a home where a meth lab is discovered, or in situations
where a first-responder is injured during a meth bust, Shaw said.