METHAMPHETAMINE LABS REACH EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS

It has been estimated that at least one methamphetamine lab is either
located or seized somewhere in Tennessee every day.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, clandestine
methamphetamine labs in central and southeastern Tennessee have reached
epidemic proportions. The number of laboratories seized in Tennessee has
more than tripled in the last three years, from 137 laboratories in 1999 to
365 laboratories in 2001.

Numbers for 2002 have not yet been released.

Locally, methamphetamine is becoming a household word.

Oak Ridge Police Lt. Mike Uher, who teaches methamphetamine training
classes to other officers, said 450 meth labs were found in 2002 in the
Hamilton County area.

"I was told they find one or two labs a day," Uher said.

According to Police Department records of closed cases, at least seven
arrests in 2002 in Oak Ridge were associated with meth, and two of those
involved labs.

Police Chief David H. Beams said Oak Ridge officers are seeing more
meth-related cases and getting more reports of homes involved in meth
production or use.

"It has been referred to as a poor man's cocaine," Beams said. "We had
information three or four years ago it was moving into our area.
Unfortunately, it's come to pass."

He said one of the real concerns about meth is the danger it presents to
citizens or law enforcement personnel who come in contact with a lab.

"We have two people in training this week, Daryl Johnson and Kristi Brock,"
Beams said of his department. They are among several local law enforcement
agents currently participating in a DEA meth lab training session in
Chattanooga.

"John Thomas is already trained to go into a house where a lab is operating
and to stabilize the situation until someone else can respond (for
cleanup)," Beams said.

Oak Ridge officers have found labs or the chemicals for making meth in
hotel rooms, vehicles and homes.

"It's subject to be about anywhere," Beams said.

Beams said officers receive information about labs from varying sources and
often monitor businesses.

"We have also done some merchant education in that area," he said. Store
managers may contact the Police Department if someone buys an unusual
amount of cold medicine, matches or chemicals.

"What amazes me the most is the fact that they are willing to ingest
something into their bodies that was made from these dangerous chemicals,"
Beams said of drug users.

Anderson County Sheriff Bill White said methamphetamine is becoming more
visible in the area.

Because of that, Chief Deputy Lewis Ridenour, Sgt. Danny Bowie and Deputy
Jodi Flynn are currently participating in a DEA meth lab training session
in Chattanooga.

"We had only two people trained to make entries once a lab was discovered,"
White said. "For safety, you have to have special training to enter these
lab areas."

He said the training is funded by the DEA at no cost to the county.

The Sheriff's Department has been getting reports that meth is being made
in different areas, he said, but because of its mobility, a lab is often
hard to locate.

"We have seen an increase in meth activity," he said. "We are getting more
calls lately than we were even a few months ago."

White said meth is cheaper to buy than most other drugs and the ingredients
for making it are easily obtained.

"Whether the lab was in a house or is mobile, there would be a hazard," he
said. "Chemicals in combination with other chemicals can be toxic."

He said the most recent drug cases the Sheriff's Department has dealt with
have been have been methamphetamine or Oxycontin.

"The latest arrests have been for those two drugs," he said.