METH LABS ON THE RUN

The hometown meth cook is an endangered species.

Laws tracking the sale of methamphetamine ingredients have crippled the
labs that once dotted Utah and have created an opening for cartels south of
the border.

"The Mexican trafficking groups have flooded the market with
methamphetamine," said Barry Jamison, special agent in charge of the Drug
Enforcement Administration office in Utah.

As an example, Jamison points to the March 6 federal grand jury indictment
of 24 people who, prosecutors say, operated the largest meth trafficking
ring in state history.

The DEA estimates the group moved more than 300 pounds of imported meth
from California and Mexico throughout the Salt Lake Valley each year,
bringing in profits estimated at nearly $5 million.

The alleged kingpins, Niels Orrin Yergensen and Irven Douglas Adams, face
43 state and 17 federal charges, and are accused of funneling the profits
through smoke shops and discount cigarette outlets.

Officers have arrested 21 of the 24 suspects, dismantling the organization.
Police say addicts were left without a quick fix -- but not for long.

Mexican cartels "certainly have the ability to fill the void," Jamison
said. "In the drug trade, the laws of supply and demand certainly apply."

The number of meth labs in Utah exploded in the late 1990s. Police busted
56 labs in 1996, a number that skyrocketed to 272 just three years later.
Lawmakers drafted legislation in 2000 that tracked the sale of the legal
chemical compounds that, when combined, create the potent stimulant.

Sales of these chemicals -- such as iodine, ephedrine and red phosphorous
- -- are now monitored by the state Department of Occupational and
Professional Licensing through a database accessible by law enforcement.

There is a limit on the number of boxes of Sudafed -- which contains
ephedrine -- consumers can buy at once, and red phosphorous requires a
license to purchase and possess. Anyone who purchases iodine must provide
identification and -- in writing -- state what purpose they have for buying
the substance.

Once the law was enacted, the number of meth labs in Utah dropped
significantly and the ones that remain have become small, unsophisticated
and mobile, according to Salt Lake City police Sgt. Mike Ross.

One person may extract ephedrine from cold medicines and another may
extract red phosphorus from matchbooks in separate locations, he said. They
then bring the chemicals to a motel room, where the cook produces a small
amount of meth before they disband, only to meet in another motel a few
days later.

"It is very hard for us to track where they are going," Ross said. "They
are moving all over the place."

Officers also are having a much harder time figuring out whether seized
meth came from a Salt Lake Valley cook or a Mexican cartel. A few years
ago, imported meth was obvious due to its pink, brown or orange tint,
indicative of impurity. Now it is as white as the drugs produced locally.

"It used to be inferior stuff. Now it is probably superior," Jamison said.
Officers speculate the increase in quality also has deterred Utahns from
producing their own meth.

"If you can buy it and it is better than you can make, then why not?" Ross
added.

Officers can determine if the drug is imported by the size of the meth
seizure. Utah's small labs produce on average a half-ounce at a time, while
Mexican superlabs produce the drug by the pound.

DEA agents made the largest undercover meth buy in state history on Nov. 15
when a West Valley City man provided five pounds to an informant. Jamison
said seizures of one pound or more have become routine.

The cartels have runners transport their product, generally packaged by the
pound, throughout the Western United States by car or even bus. The
Greyhound station in Salt Lake City has seized 12 pounds of meth in the
past year through random bag inspections.

While these covert actions are more difficult to track than a neighborhood
cook, police are encouraged by the decrease in secondhand effects created
by the sharp decline in meth labs.

Ross believes the actual amount of meth in Utah is higher than ever before,
but he takes heart in knowing fewer contaminated homes are in neighborhoods
and fewer children are being exposed to the toxic fumes emitted in the
cooking process.