OUR BIGGEST PROBLEM

They will cook it in their bathrooms, kitchens and the trunks of their
cars. Some will even cook it in their baby's nursery.

"Methamphetamine manufacturing is still our biggest problem in Payne
County," Payne County Assistant District Attorney Jack Bowyer said. "The
availability of ingredients and the ease of manufacture makes it a huge
problem."

Keith Colasacco, supervising agent for the District Nine Drug Task Force,
agrees.

"There are three reasons meth is our biggest problem," Colasacco said.
"It's highly addictive, the availability of product and the ease of
obtaining ingredients - it's worse than heroin."

DTF agents, with the assistance and cooperation of law enforcement agencies
in Payne and Logan counties, investigated 203 drug cases in 2002.

Colasacco said the most disturbing lab he worked was located in a baby's
room - less than two feet from the infant's crib.

The DTF busted or found 44 meth labs and arrested more than 200 people.

Agents worked 19 labs in Logan County and 25 in Payne County.

"When we say 'found' labs, we mean broken-down labs that have been dumped
somewhere," Colasacco said. "They are usually dumped on county roads, in
creek beds or under bridges."

Colasacco said agents found six labs last year that had been dumped under
county bridges.

"The dumping not only makes it a drug problem but, because of the chemicals
involved, it makes it an environmental problem, too," he said.
Methamphetamine is made from several highly toxic, but common, ingredients
available at most retail stores and chemical supply houses.

Muriatic acid, lye, diethyl ether, anhydrous ammonia and ephedrine are a
few of the more volatile ingredients involved in the manufacture of meth.

Iodine, distilled water, lithium batteries, matchbooks and coffee filters
are some of the common household items also used in the process. Finding
out how to make meth is as easy as finding the ingredients. There are
numerous Websites that include recipes and where to get what you need.
There are also several books, available to order, that also provide the
information.

The manufacturing process is also relatively short.

Before meth can be made, the main ingredient, ephedrine, must be extracted
from whatever source the cook has chosen - usually cold and sinus tablets.

Colasacco said after the ephedrine is extracted, separated and dried, it
takes only about two hours to cook meth using the liquid fertilizer
anhydrous ammonia, or "Nazi" Method; or four hours by the Red Phosphorus
Method.

The "cooking" is a chemical reaction that takes place when certain
ingredients are mixed.

According to information from the Stillwater Police Department, $100 worth
of ingredients will make $1,000 worth of meth - and 5 to 6 pounds of toxic
waste.

When police raid a meth lab, they are required to contact a waste
management company that specializes in removing hazardous waste.

The costs to clean meth lab sites are the property owners' responsibility.

This means landlords and property management companies bear the costs of
damages and cleanup if a tenant is caught cooking meth.

"They can sue their tenants in civil court for damages, but that is about
it," Colasacco said.

Meth can be smoked, snorted or injected and is highly addictive.

Colasacco said the perpetrators are usually older, Caucasian adults.

"You've got these people who used amphetamine in the '60s and now they are
doing meth," he said. "But it's not the same thing - meth is much more
concentrated than the stuff biker gangs used to sell."

The DTF, while formed to combat clandestine meth manufacturing operations,
also hunts for those trafficking cocaine and ecstasy or cultivating marijuana.

"Our big three are meth, pot and coke," Colasacco said. "We have been
extremely fortunate so far that ecstasy has not become a major problem here
yet but we are completely aware of it and prepared."

Ecstasy is an illegally manufactured variation of mescaline and amphetamine
and is popular at all-night parties, or "raves."

It is considered a "designer drug," or a substance on the drug market that
is a chemical analog or variation of another psychoactive drug.

It is usually sold in pill form and is popular with college-aged students.

"It is basically meth with an acid trip," Colasacco said. "It increases the
heart rate, raises the blood pressure and body temperature."

"There was a case, not here, where a 16-year-old took three hits of ecstasy
and ended up dehydrating and dying," he said. "Four hours after he died,
his body temperature was still 104 degrees."

Colasacco said there is also a new meth on the streets called "Yaba."

"That is the Thai name for meth," he said. "We haven't seen much here yet,
but it is easier to manufacture than traditional methods and it is pressed
into pill form, so it is just a matter of time."

Colasacco said the cat-and-mouse game law enforcement plays with drug
manufacturers is ever-changing.

"Repeat offenders are probably our biggest problem," Colasacco said. "They
have to have the money and the drugs."

Bowyer agrees the repeat statistics are not positive.

"When people are charged and accused of manufacturing and then are arrested
again, for the same thing, before the first case is even through the system
- - it is much more serious," he said.

Manufacturing meth was once the stiffest charge a defendant could be
charged with; it carried an automatic 20 years in prison with no chance of
suspended or deferred sentences.

Prison space begin to fill with meth cooks and the Oklahoma Legislature
dropped the sentence for "simple manufacturing" to seven years.

"And as long as the defendant doesn't have a criminal record, they can now
receive probation instead of prison time," Bowyer said. "They added a new
felony, aggravated manufacturing, which is based on the weight of what is
being made and finished product found at the time the lab is found."

Colasacco said manufacturers and traffickers continue to look for ways to
avoid the police.

"They have sources just like we do, so it's like a game," he said. "They
change something, we find out and bust them and then they change it again;
it's on-going."