OFFICIALS SEEING INCREASE IN METH LABS

Problem Is Spreading Over Northwest N.C. Counties, Deputy Says

JEFFERSON - The discovery of two clandestine methamphetamine labs in Ashe
County on Thursday - the same number as found in the county in all of 2002
- - shows that they are spreading in Northwest North Carolina, authorities said.

"It's getting to be a problem here," said Maj. Steve Houck, the chief
deputy with the Ashe County Sheriff's Office. "I'm sure we've got several
more that we don't know about." No arrests had been made yesterday, but
warrants were being drawn up, Houck said.

One lab was found in a house in Crumpler and the other in a mobile home in
Laurel Springs. Earlier this year, a third lab was raided.

Small-scale methamphetamine labs began proliferating on the West Coast
nearly 25 years ago, authorities said. In recent years the problem has
taken root in Tennessee and Georgia and has been growing rapidly in North
Carolina - especially in the westernmost counties.

Watauga County has been one of the hardest hit. So far this year,
authorities have shut down at least 12 labs and made more than 25 arrests
related to methampethamine production.

Though the arrival of meth labs was inevitable, Houck said, law-enforcement
efforts in neighboring Watauga County may have pushed some lab operations
into nearby counties.

"With the amount of labs that Watauga County has busted recently, they may
be flushing some of those folks over this way," Houck said.

He issued a warning to those who think that moving their labs will result
in less pressure from investigators. "We don't want them here either,"
Houck said. "That's why we're also going to go after them hard."

Methamphetamine - known on the street as speed or crank - is dangerous to
use and to manufacture, authorities said. It is highly addictive and can
cause the onset of symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease.

The chemicals used to produce methamphetamine are volatile, and the fumes
emitted during the manufacturing process can be toxic.

Five Watauga County firefighters were hospitalized earlier this year after
being exposed to toxic fumes in a house fire that started because the
occupant had been "cooking" methamphetamine.