METH LABS THE NEWEST SCOURGE

JOHNSTON COUNTY -- In 1997, Chad Thompson busted his first methamphetamine lab.

At the time, Thompson was a police officer in the Sampson County town of
Roseboro, and he had seen meth before on the streets. But the 1997 bust
marked the first time he had nabbed a person for making the highly
addictive drug.

"It was all trafficked in from over the border," recalled Thompson, now a
Johnston County drug agent. "Before then, I wasn't dealing with any of the
locals making the stuff."

Four years later, in 2001, Thompson busted the same man again -- this time
for cooking up meth in a rented house outside of Benson.

And since then, "mom and pop" drug labs have been sprouting up all over the
county. Meth labs have become so prominent in Johnston that county drug
agents are exhausting numerous hours each week searching for more
clandestine labs in operation.

In the last four months, Johnston drug agents have hunted down 10 labs in
homes, sheds and cars and have made more than 15 arrests for making and
possessing meth. Two of the busts netted more than $650,000 of the drug.

"It's growing by leaps and bounds," said Craig Fish, captain of the
Narcotics Division within the Sheriff's Department. "No other drug compares
to meth and the growth we've had over the last several months." Thompson
agreed. "For every one meth lab we've gotten, I would say there are three
that we haven't gotten," he said.

Cheap to make, profitable to sell

A drug with roots on the West Coast, meth, over time, has crept into the
South, enticing a new breed of drug makers in an area known for its
moonshiners.

The popularity of meth has risen because the drug is easy to make and
offers a potent high, drug agents say. Users can smoke, snort, inject or
eat meth, which gives a euphoric buzz that can linger for 24 hours.

Because meth is so addictive, lab operators are usually meth users who
sample their product. Once they learn how to make it, most stick to the
same recipe and enlist a small circle of family members and friends in a
business that can net more than $2,000 per ounce of the drug.

For the most part, meth cookers flock to rural areas, where they set up
makeshift labs that can be disassembled quickly. Some labs can even be
packed in a suitcase and set up in the backseat of a car.

"The odor is so bad from making this stuff," Fish said, describing the
stench of a rotten egg. "Most people want to get out away from everything
so their neighbor doesn't catch on to what they're doing."

Perhaps the hardest part of making meth is getting hold of anhydrous
ammonia -- an agricultural fertilizer. Many meth cookers are so desperate
for the long-lasting high that they resort to stealing tanks of anhydrous
ammonia from farmers.

"Most people who deal in meth are the bottom of the barrel," Fish said.
"This is not a drug that somebody is going to start out with."

Most other ingredients in meth are readily available in stores and include
ephedrine, which is found in over-the-counter allergy tablets; and common
household products such as lye, paint thinner, battery acid and campfire
fuel. And recipes for the drug can be found on the Internet.

For about $100, a person can buy the supplies and within a few hours make a
thousand dollars worth of meth, drug agents say.

"It doesn't take a nuclear physicist to make methamphetamine," Thompson
said. "It's not like spliting the atom."

Dangerous investigations

Unlike seizing cocaine or marijuana, getting rid of a meth lab is expensive
and dangerous, which poses many challenges for law enforcement.

Dismantling a meth lab is not as simple as pulling a marijuana plant out of
the ground or seizing a pot of crack cocaine off the stove. Meth labs
contain highly volatile chemicals that can easily explode, causing serious
injury or death.

In addition, the chemicals pose risks to the environment and to those who
manufacture meth. The cooking process releases hazardous fumes and leaves
behind gallons of toxic waste that is often poured down drains or directly
onto the ground.

"Some of these people don't realize, know or care how dangerous these
chemicals are," Thompson said.

Others do, but still operate the labs anyway. Agents commonly find masks,
rubber gloves and other protective gear when they bust a lab.

So far, no one has been injured in a Johnston County meth lab, but drug
agents say it's only a matter of time. Investigators believe a bad batch of
meth caused a house fire last week near Benson.

To ensure their safety during raids, drug agents call in a
hazardous-materials team, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Drug
Enforcement Agency to clean up and help local officers investigate every
meth lab.

Cleanup measures are expensive -- costing on average about $5,000 -- and
are beyond the financial means of most local jurisdictions. Currently,
Johnston agents call in a cleanup crew from Tennessee because the group has
a contract with the DEA, which foots the bill.

While the idea is cost-effective for local agencies, it ties up agents for
hours, sometimes days, at one meth lab. "Once we find one, it takes so long
to finish it," Thompson said, noting that agents spend as many as 18 to 20
hours at the scene of meth labs. "The only answer is more manpower."

What the future holds

Sheriff Steve Bizzell said the increasing number of meth labs in Johnston
has placed a burden on the seven agents who make up his drug division. But
despite thin resources, officers are finding more and more meth, he added.

"This is an influx we've not experienced in the past, and we've got to deal
with it," Bizzell said.

To date, Bizzell said, his officers have had to teach themselves a lot of
what they now know about the drug because it is so new to the area. But as
agents learn more, they are becoming better trained to spot illegal labs
and, as a result, are making more arrests.

"It's something that started out West and moved in here real quick,"
Bizzell said. "It's becoming a replacement drug for crack cocaine, and it's
becoming a choice among drug users."

Bizzell is scouting training opportunities for his officers but says
education in itself isn't enough to thwart a new drug problem. "I've got to
have additional resources, and that's going to include manpower," he said.
"I have an obligation as sheriff to be equipped with men, training and
resources to effectively and efficiently eradicate this meth problem that
we are experiencing."