DRUG SEIZURE TOTALS VARY

But Meth Problem In Valley Appears To Be Moving East

The RUSH Drug Task Force, which works Harrisonburg and Rockingham
County, seized more than 10,000 grams (22 pounds) of methamphetamine
last year.

The Northwest Region Drug Task Force to the north of Rockingham seized
about 1,400 grams (about three pounds).

An interstate trafficking ring broken up in Rockingham County in the
late 1990s foreshadowed meth's spread south into Augusta County and
Staunton, where it took hold around 2000, police say.

Now, it is the third most frequent drug investigated in Staunton -
after cocaine and marijuana - and accounts for about 75 percent of
drug cases in Augusta County, investigators there estimate.

By comparison, the Blue Ridge Task Force for the Orange and Culpeper
counties area across the mountain to the east seized none, task force
statistics show.

However, the Shenandoah Valley's meth problem is moving east. Last
September, the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement task force seized 537
grams in western Albemarle County.

Most of the methamphetamine valley officials see originates in the
southwestern United States or Mexico, the authorities say.

Those who bring it to the region generally are members of outlaw
motorcycle gangs or Mexican immigrants who find it easy to hide within
the valley's growing Hispanic population, authorities say.

They believe gang members moved more than 9,000 grams of the drug
during a two-year investigation, said Shenandoah County Sheriff Tim
Carter.

Through April of this year, the Northwest task force had seized more
than 3,600 grams of meth - at or near the level of RUSH to the south,
according to task force statistics.

RUSH officials say meth is worth as much as $15,000 per pound uncut
and as much as $45,000 per pound when sold by the gram.