POLICE BRIEF PUBLIC ABOUT METH ABUSE

Local Busts Jump 300 Percent

The number of methamphetamine busts rose 300 percent last year in Morgan
County, authorities said Thursday, reflecting a problem that continues to
grow across the region.

While discussing the recent rise in methamphetamine production at a public
meeting at the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce, law enforcement
agents explained how the drug works in the body, how users can easily make
it in the home, and how officials are trying to curb use and production.

Growing Problem

"Methamphetamine arrests have exploded in Morgan County in the past year,
year-and-a-half," said District Attorney Bob Burrell. During the last grand
jury session, jurors heard 90 cases of methamphetamine possession.

In recent years, Burrell said, most meth cases in Morgan County have been
possession arrests resulting from traffic stops. Authorities usually find
people with a small quantity in their cars. In the past year, however,
police are finding home laboratories.

"You can make your own dope," said Fred Gasbarro, an officer with the Drug
Enforcement Administration.

He said that's why methamphetamine is so widely used. Most involve small
"bathtub labs," where people make their own supply and don't sell large
quantities.

"It's extremely addictive. It makes crack cocaine look like M&M's," said
Gasbarro. Authorities said the labs are hazardous because they use toxic,
flammable and readily available chemicals.

Often people who have already been awake for several days are making
methamphetamine on hot plates with drain cleaner, iodine, alcohols, ethers
and red phosphorus. Sometimes they accidentally ignite the flammable
liquids, causing injuries or death. The chemicals sometimes form
undetectable toxic gases, which can kill those breathing them.

Those dangers make methamphetamine labs potentially hazardous for neighbors
and other people who may be in the house with the lab. Dismantling
methamphetamine labs is also hazardous for authorities.

Rethinking Emphasis

Gasbarro explained that recent law enforcement efforts are focusing on
stores selling the common materials from which methamphetamine is made.
Pseudoephedrine is the starting material from which labs synthesize
methamphetamine in the presence of household cleaning agents and
fire-starting fluids. Pseudoephedrine is the main ingredient in most
over-the-counter cold medications.

Wal-Mart, for example, limits customers to purchasing only a couple
packages of pseudoephedrine-containing medications per visit to discourage
people from stockpiling it.

Officers explained that, while meth is on the rise in Morgan County, it
does not match the production in several other more rural North Alabama
counties. DeKalb and other counties have actually seen a downturn in
methamphetamine production recently, however, which officers attribute to
greater community awareness and grant money the counties received to combat
the problem.