RAMPAGING METH

No. 1 Drug Problem Sweeps Across State

Alarming statistics presented Tuesday by a top drug enforcement
official added a statewide perspective to what's already seen as a
burgeoning local drug problem. Dave Rodriguez, director of the
Northwest High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, said Tuesday in
Vancouver that 222 meth labs in Washington state were dismantled in
2002. That's a stunning increase from 38 meth lab seizures the
previous year.

Rodriguez, speaking at the third annual Meth Summit here, also pointed
out that ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, chemicals used to "cook" meth,
are flooding into Washington from Canada.

That broadens the view presented in June when The Columbian published
"The Menace of Meth," a four-part series describing the emergence of
methamphetamine as the No. 1 drug problem in Clark County. It was
reported then that the number of meth labs in the county almost
doubled in the past two years, the number of meth arrests soared by
one-third, and three-fourths of the county's drug prosecutions
involved meth.

It's a startling problem, but effective solutions and strategies are
available. They aren't cheap, they aren't easy and, most importantly,
they aren't optional.

One strategy involves traditional solutions. Law enforcement efforts
must be increased, especially on our borders to prevent the arrival of
chemicals from Canada, which still allows the purchase of mass
quantities of cold pills. It's from these pills that the meth-lab
chemicals of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are extracted. Other
traditional solutions involve education, increased communication
between parents and children, and more drug-treatment programs.

But there also are outside-the-box solutions that have shown success.
In 2001 Washington became one of the first states to organize a
statewide meth summit, and now 37 of the state's 39 counties have
meth-action teams. The King County Sheriff's Office is developing a
drug-endangered children program that rescues neglected and abused
children found at meth sites. Also, more drug courts such as the one
instituted in Clark County are offering a treatment alternative to
incarceration. In 1994 there were just 14 drug courts in the nation;
now there are more than 1,000.

These are serious, expensive and labor-intensive solutions, but
they're necessary in battling such a huge and powerful problem.