POLICE: METH IS COUNTY'S DRUG OF CHOICE

Area law enforcement are seizing more methamphetamine laboratories in Parker
County, which they claim is due to the area's affinity for the drug and the
ease in making it.

"Methamphetamine has always been the drug of choice in Parker County," said
Lt. Brian Wright of the Cross Timbers Narcotics Task Force. "Every area has
a drug that is more predominant and that's what it is here."

Wright said that, coupled with it being easier and cheaper to make, has led
to a steady number of methamphetamine labs seized in the county. He said in
the past two years the numbers have been steady.

Wright said in 2001 Cross Timbers seized 36 meth labs and in 2002 they
dismantled another 36. Those numbers compare to the 122 labs seized
statewide by the Texas Department of Public Safety. In addition, the total
number of meth labs seized across the state in 2001 as reported by all state
law enforcement was more than 350.

DPS Director Col. Thomas A. Davis Jr. said DPS narcotics agents seized 122
methamphetamine labs in 2002 in Texas compared to 19 in 1998, a 542 percent
increase. Officials said a growing demand and easy accessibility to the
chemicals used to make methamphetamine have led to an increase in its
production and use.

"The production of meth is dangerous to those who cook it and use it, but
the danger is not limited only to them," Davis said.

Davis said in 2000, DPS seized 65 meth labs of the 178 reported statewide,
in 2001 there were reportedly 228 labs seized, with 124 being seized by DPS.

Davis said the growing meth problem is a threat to the public, law
enforcement and hazardous-materials teams because it involves the use of
explosive, flammable and cancer-causing chemicals.

He warns anyone who comes in contact with these chemicals can endure a
variety of life-threatening symptoms, including chest pains, shortness of
breath, dizziness and burns.

"Anyone who comes in contact with these labs is exposed to dangers that can
produce life-threatening injury, death and destruction of property," Davis
said.

Wright said most users find it easier to make the drug than to buy it.

"There are a lot of people out there doing it," Wright said.

He said because cooks no longer need electricity or water to process the
drug, the labs are more portable and one can make it from the back of their
car.

While some people get recipes for the drug online, Wright said that often it
is from "monkey see, monkey do."

But the one factor working in favor of law enforcement is the difficulty in
getting ingredients. Wright said many meth manufacturers get the active
ingredients from drug stores.

"That's where almost all of them get it," Wright said. "Most stores are
regulating such items, only allowing consumers to buy three boxes."

Yet, not all are buying. The increase in theft of such products and the
accelerated danger has forced many pharmacies to keep the items locked
behind the counter.

Brookshires Manager Dan Carter said the store keeps over-the-counter
medications containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine in a locked cabinet. He
said that high theft of the products have forced the store to take that
step.

"We have a limit on how many you can buy," said Pharmacist Monte Berrin of
Hometown Pharmacy.

He said the store restricts the amount people can buy because one needs a
lot of the substances to make methamphetamine and they don't want to
contribute to the process if they can help it.

Davis said that a person might be living next door to a meth cooker or
driving next to one on the highway, with law enforcement finding them in the
back seats and trunks of cars.

Labs were once staffed by chemists or those familiar with chemicals. But the
labs are not run by chemists now, they are run by "cooks" who are following
a recipe that has passed through an untold number of people before the cook
received it.

The process sometimes ends with the meth cooker getting burned, blown up or
otherwise injured. One law enforcement agency estimate attributed the
discovery of one out every five meth labs is because of an explosion.

The Nazi method of producing methamphetamine derives its name from a formula
believed to have originated in Nazi Germany. The method uses ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine, which up until recently was a readily available
over-the-counter drug used in cold remedies, weight-loss aids and energy
enhancers.

Investigators said that the meth cooks and their friends usually use half of
the final product while selling the remainder to buy more ingredients.

There is another methamphetamine production type called clandestine
production. This method produces toxic substances and requires special
training for dismantling because of the vapors and other byproducts
involved. Some of the items used in this manufacture of meth can include
carburetor cleaner, engine starting fluid, anhydrous ammonia, drain
cleaners, cyanide and several different types of acid.

Wright said that because of the paranoia that many meth users suffer, some
of the labs are bobby-trapped. While this hasn't been a problem for narcotic
officers in Parker County, agents across the country have been killed or
injured in the process of raiding labs.

The drug was first synthesized in Japan in 1919. It was used to keep Allied
and Axis troops in World War 1 alert. Today, it is used to treat attention
deficit disorders and narcolepsy, but it is also being abused by others with
no medical reason for using it.