METHAMPHETAMINE USE INCREASING IN STATE

NEW YORK - A highly additive, easy-to-obtain drug blamed for ravaging
the nation's heartland is creeping into New York-and has federal
agents and cops mounting a full-blown crackdown.

On the street, methamphetamine is known as poor man's cocaine, tina,
crank, crissy, crystal meth-or simply meth.

Already popular among segments of the city's gay community and club
kids, meth has shown signs of extending its poisonous reach to a wider
population in New York.

"We are alarmed because we have seen a significant uptick in the
availability of methamphetamine," said Anthony Placido, special agent
in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's New York division.

"What we are hoping is to avoid being taken by surprise, as was the
case with crack cocaine," Placido said. "Crack cocaine made a small
start in New York, and then it seemed like almost overnight it reached
full-blown epidemic status."

In the past year, the DEA has seen its crystal meth seizures surge by
31 percent across the state.

Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan also have
handled more than 30 arrest linked to crystal meth in the past six
months. There were just 11 arrests in all of 2003.

And over the past six months, more than $2.5 million worth of meth has
been confiscated from dealers in the cases handled by Manhattan
federal prosecutors.

Meth typically is sold as a white powder that dissolves in water, but
it also comes in chunky crystals and colorful tablets. The drug can be
injected, snorted, smoked, swallowed or absorbed anally.

Meth pumps the fell-good chemical dopamine into the brain. The result
is increased stamina, decreased inhibitions and a high that can last
for days. The drug also causes extreme fatigue in the long term, loss
of appetite, psychotic behavior and brain damage similar to
Alzheimer's disease.

Meth has plagued the West Coast and rural America for more than a
decade, becoming the nation's top drug while seeping toward New York.

The effect already is being felt in the city. In 2001, there were no
meth overdoses reported in the five boroughs. The combined total for
2002 and 2003 was about 50, according to the city Health Department.

Still, cocaine and other traditional drugs dwarf the abuse, for now.
"Although its prevalence is relatively small, emergency room
admissions have increased, and that concerns us," said Police
Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "We want to nip this in the bud by
destroying the labs and killing distribution before it catches fire
like crack."

Bridget Brennan the city's special narcotics prosecutor, said meth is
still a niche drug, with 35 people busted on meth charges by the NYPD
in two years.

Unlike the middle of the country, where mom-and-pop labs are
prevalent, super labs in Mexico and California crank out most of the
meth peddled in New York. But the DEA and New York State police also
have seen a major surge of smaller labs around Binghamton and farther
north.

In 1999, there were two known meth labs in the state. By last year,
the number had exploded to 73, a disturbing trend but still behind the
thousands of labs in Missouri and other Midwestern hot spots.

"It's been pretty much doubling each year," said State Police Capt.
Richard Nuzzo. "If you turn a blind eye to it, it will quickly overrun
your community. It's like a cancer."

New York Gov. George E. Pataki is crafting a legislative proposal that
would create tough penalties for manufacturing meth, a source said.
State law currently only hands down punishments for possessing or
selling meth.