In Our View

METH LABS

When law enforcement officers bust meth labs, it is only the
beginning of the story in the war against this insidious, highly
dangerous drug. Cleaning up the toxic and volatile chemicals requires
expertise, proper clothing and time. One mistake in dealing with a
meth site can be dangerous: The fumes can be harmful and the
concoction can explode.

Yet, despite law enforcement's crackdown and the inherent dangers in
the production of meth, the drug remains in high demand. That is due
largely to the ease of its manufacture in garages, basements and
secluded areas, the availability and relatively inexpensive cost of
the ingredients, and the addictive properties. A chemistry degree
isn't required to be a meth maker. That fact, in itself, should sound
an alarm for users, who can't be certain about the quality of the
mixture they are taking into their bodies.

More manpower, money and resources are being thrown into the battle
against methamphetamine production. Arrests are being made, producers
and traffickers are being sentenced to jail, and labs are being
dismantled in the region on an almost daily basis. Unfortunately, as
one meth maker or dealer goes to prison, someone else decides that
manufacturing the drug is simply too profitable to pass up and
launches another lab site.

In 2002, Jasper County led Missouri for the second straight year in
the number of meth operations uncovered, with 154. That statistic can
be read several ways. The preferable way is that local law enforcement
authorities are doing a crackerjack job in ferreting out the labs and
putting the meth makers out of business. The other possibility is that
Jasper County, for whatever reason, is a hive of meth activity, that
authorities are finding only some of the sites and that many, many
more labs are turning out their dangerous mixtures. The latter is as
disturbing as the former is encouraging.