LAW ENFORCEMENT FIGHTS METHAMPHETAMINE

Officers Preparing For War On Drug Labs

The equipment and ingredients for the deadly drug are available in any
discount department store.

The recipe for its highly addictive brew can be found on dozens of Internet
sites, though most cookers learn through word of mouth.

The clandestine laboratories could be anywhere close by -- a neighbor's
kitchen table, an adjoining motel room or a passing car.

Crank. Ice. Speed. Crystal meth. Whatever its nickname, the powerful
stimulant known legally as methamphetamine is coming to a neighborhood near
you, if it isn't already next door, federal drug agents warn.

"It could be in a million-dollar house or the shed down the street. It
could be in the $50,000 Escalade in the front yard or a Pinto in the back,"
said special agent Mark Greer of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's
Jacksonville office. "It's growing and growing, and it's getting here."

To combat the growing numbers of clandestine makeshift methamphetamine labs
nationwide, the DEA is training local and state police in identifying labs
and how to handle the potential dangers from poisonous gas and toxic chemicals.

This week, the first such school in Florida is being held in Jacksonville
under the tutelage of local DEA agents. About 40 police officers from
throughout the state are undergoing classroom training, including meth
cooking sessions, and field exercises that include using protective suits
needed to dismantle labs.

The training is required by federal safety officials, because officers face
hazardous conditions in labs.

"Simply knocking over a tube or turning on a light switch could lead to an
explosion," said Randy Bohman, assistant special agent in charge of the
Jacksonville DEA office. "This [training] will allow them to go in,
investigate and dismantle them safely."

Methamphetamine is popular because it is cheap to make and buy and the high
lasts much longer than other drugs, such as crack cocaine, Bohman said. The
drug is highly addictive and can cause violent reactions.

Methamphetamine first became popular in the West in the 1970s when the
Hell's Angels and Outlaws motorcycle gangs were involved in making and
distributing the white powder. Mexican drug cartels, using cheap farm
labor, set up labs in the West in the '80s and moved the drug into
Midwestern states such as Missouri in the early 1990s. The drug slowly has
moved eastward since.

The DEA seized about 8,000 labs last year nationwide, compared with 3,000
in 1998. In Florida, authorities already have shut down about 120 labs this
year, compared with 134 in 2002 and 30 in 2001.

Locally, labs have been found in St. Johns and Clay counties, and multiple
labs have been found in Southeast Georgia. On Tuesday, police in Glynn
County, Ga., charged a father and son with running a meth lab in their home.

One of the primary ingredients in making methamphetamine is the chemical
pseudoephedrine, found in colds medicines. Those cold tablets are ground
into powder and often used in a 10-step process that involves alcohol,
ether and other products to extract the chemicals needed to make the substance.

It takes about three hours to make a batch of methamphetamine. An ounce of
the drug can be made for $100 to $200 and sold for $1,000 or more.

For every pound of methamphetamine made, there are about 6 pounds of
hazardous waste -- waste that often is dumped in fields or streams. It
takes about a half day for police to collect evidence, clean up what they
can and call in contract disposal experts to remove hazardous waste from
labs. Last year, it cost more than $700,000 to clean up labs in Florida.

Police often are unaware that a meth lab is awaiting them when they respond
to other crimes.

"It happens in the middle of the night, when deputies go to a domestic and
walk into a lab," Greer said. "That's the most common way."

DEA agents and local police plan to combine forces to keep the drug from
overwhelming local neighborhoods, as crack cocaine did in the late 1980s
and early to mid-1990s.

"We're trying to get ahead of the game and make people aware of the
dangers," Bohman said. "It's going to happen here. We need to be proactive.
You have to know what you're looking for."