STATE, LOCALS MAKING DENT IN METH LABS

In Washington's war on methamphetamine, battles are being won, local and
state officials say.

Fewer labs used to make the addictive and illegal stimulant were reported
in the first quarter of 2003 than in the first quarter of 2002 in Kitsap
County and the state.

The West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team received 35 reports of meth labs
from January to May 2002, compared with 19 labs and eight dump sites this year.

"It's an encouraging trend," said Sgt. Randy Drake, head of WestNET, which
comprises detectives from police departments, the state patrol and the
Sheriff's Office in Kitsap County.

Statewide, there were 12 percent fewer meth labs -- 726 in 2003 and 825 in
2002 -- reported in the first five months of the year.

This year's first-quarter decrease comes on the heels of a 10 percent
decline in the number of labs reported in 2002.

"For the last year, we started to see an indication of a decline, but we
were very tentative about it ... but for now, into this year, we're seeing
a continuation of the decline in the number of meth labs," said Patricia
Lisicich, executive director for Safe Streets Campaign of Kitsap County,
and part of the Washington State Meth Initiative.

Though groups are collecting data about users, it is still too early to say
if actual use of meth has declined, Lisicich said.

The drug has been recognized since the early 1990s as a burgeoning problem
and has been fingered as the cause of property and violent crime increases
throughout the nation.

The number of reported clandestine labs increased dramatically in the early
1990s as people learned to recognize their components.

Fewer reports in Kitsap this year are not due to less enforcement, Drake
said. Two detectives, fresh from the Poulsbo and Port Orchard police
departments, joined WestNET in January 2002 and have become more adept at
identifying labs.

Myriad actions from local to federal levels deserve the credit for what
officials hope is a sign that meth's use is dwindling.

Public education and the resulting community activism, more funding for
treatment, and enforcement of laws requiring tougher sentences for meth
dealers and those who illegally sell meth-making ingredients, is the
three-pronged approach that officials say has been making the difference.

No number defines when the war on meth will be won.

"We need to drive it to the point that it's no longer the stimulant of
choice among people who use stimulants," said State Patrol Detective Sgt.
Tom Zweiger, who has been in drug enforcement for 24 years. "We won't ever
eliminate it. There's always going to be someone out there to use the drug,
but once the demand dies off, from an economic standpoint there will be no
market."

There still is a long way to go before meth use is at a more comfortable
level, Lisicich said, but with what she's seeing now from angry citizens to
legislators, she predicts that "in the next couple years we'll see a more
dramatic decline."