LAWMEN SEEK TO HALT LABS FOR METH

Lawmen in the Cape Fear region say they hope tougher laws on
methamphetamine will deter people from making the drug.

State lawmakers have toughened punishments for people who produce
meth, make it in front of children or who are caught with ingredients
to make the drug. The laws take effect Dec. 1.

Attorney General Roy Cooper and other lawmen pushed for the harsher
penalties in an effort to fight the spread of methamphetamine in North
Carolina. Meth traffic has grown statewide in recent years, and lawmen
say the labs pose environmental and social dangers.

"The previous law amounted to pretty much a slap on the wrist," said
Phillip Little, the chief deputy at the Bladen County Sheriff's
Office. "The punishment was not consistent with the impact it was
having on society." Little, a past president of the N.C. Narcotics
Officers Association, said the organization lobbied for the stricter
penalties and has tried to educate people about the drug's risks.

One of the changes deals with the child endangerment aspect of the
drug.

It will soon be considered an aggravating factor for someone who is
convicted of making meth where a child lives or for exposing a child
to the drug. That could affect the sentence the person receives.

Children Involved

Last year, children were found in 25 percent of the meth labs
discovered in the state, according to the state Attorney General's
Office.

"It's a sad part of these things when you find them (children) in
those homes," said Harnett County Sheriff Larry Rollins.

Rollins said his department has not found any children in meth labs
that his officers have raided. But social workers said they later
learned that children had been living in the homes.

Over the past few years, social workers in Harnett County said they
have taken at least four children from homes where meth labs were
operating. In one home, the lab was in the attic.

Explosive Chemicals

Chemicals from meth labs, experts say, can be explosive and lead to
illnesses in people who make the drug or who live and work nearby. "I
can't stress the dangers of a meth lab enough," Little said. "There is
just a smorgasbord of chemicals and combinations of chemicals that
will harm you."

State lawmakers have increased prison time for those who are convicted
of making or packaging meth. Under the new law, a person convicted of
producing meth could serve up to 17 years in prison. Now, lawmen say,
a first-time offender would likely not have had to serve time in prison.

"Hopefully it will increase the liability and keep people from setting
up these labs," said Jimmy Thornton, the sheriff in Sampson County.

The state also added a penalty for a person who makes a dose of meth
that results in someone's death. The producer could be charged with
second-degree murder. "That ought to tell you how potent this stuff
is," Thornton said.

Lawmen in North Carolina found nine meth labs five years ago. Last
year, the number surged to 177. As of Wednesday, 202 meth labs had
been raided by the State Bureau of Investigation this year. More meth
labs have been found in Harnett and Sampson counties than any other
county in the Cape Fear region.

Dealers use the labs to "cook" meth. The drug, which is often called
"crank" and "ice," is a stimulant that causes a feeling of euphoria
and can keep the user awake for up to three days.

It has been called poor man's cocaine and, lawmen say, part of meth's
appeal is its accessibility.

"Some people put it in the same context as the old bootleggers making
whiskey," Rollins said.

Instructions on how to make the drug can be found on the Internet. It
can be made using common household products, such as batteries and
allergy medicine.

The punishment for a person who possesses ingredients to make meth
also has increased. If convicted, an offender could get up to four
years in prison.

"That makes communities safer," Rollins said. "You catch them before
they start."

Tougher Rules

Lawmen say more needs to be done. Law enforcement agencies want to get
cooperation from businesses and companies that sell products used to
make methamphetamine, authorities said.

Lawmen have asked business owners to be leery of customers who buy
certain chemicals and products in bulk. "We need to look at limiting
possession of certain amounts of the precursor chemicals," Little
said. "We've come a long way. But I'm sure we are going to need to
continue to work."

They say lawmen, firefighters, school officials and social workers as
well as the public must learn what signs are indicative of a meth lab
and its dangers. "Home health workers and fire departments will often
encounter a lab before law enforcement," Little said. By having that
knowledge and keeping a watchful eye, they could save lives if they
were to uncover and report a lab, Little said.

Lawmen and firemen in North Carolina have been injured going inside
meth labs. In April 2002, two Erwin police officers were hospitalized
after being overcome by ammonia fumes during a raid on a meth lab.

The state has added an additional 60-month sentence if an offender is
guilty of making meth and it results in the injury of a law
enforcement officer or an emergency medical worker.

Mutual Aid

Lawmen in rural departments such as Sampson and Harnett counties say
they must depend on federal and state agencies to help uncover the
labs. Finding the labs takes manpower and resources that rural
departments do not have, they said.

Last month in Sampson County, lawmen found a meth lab in a home near
Roseboro while serving a search warrant. Thornton said deputies had to
wait for SBI agents before entering the lab. Once inside, he said,
agents seized 22 containers of chemicals used to make meth. He said it
cost the state and federal governments $7,500 to dispose of each
container - a price tag a rural department could not afford.

"We've got a serious problem," Thornton said, "and I don't say that
lightly. We are going to do whatever it takes to deal with the meth
problem in this community."

One way rural departments can fight the trend is by training their
officers to dismantle the labs. In October, Rollins said, he plans to
send members of his special response team to a school that will allow
the officers to raid labs without having to depend on the SBI. "We'll
be able to do our part for this community to stop it as soon as we
know about it," Rollins said.

2005 Operation

He hopes the team will be active by the beginning of next year. Once
the team is operational, Harnett will be the first county in
southeastern North Carolina to have officers trained to raid labs,
Rollins said.

"We will be able to have our team go and secure it," he said. "What
happens now is that once our guys get the info, we have to notify the
SBI. The bureau is over tasked because there is just too much of it."