DISCOVERY OF 3 METH LABS DISTURBS NARCOTICS OFFICERS

As of four days ago, Columbus police had found one methamphetamine lab in
the past year.

On Sunday and Monday, police found three. And two months ago, narcotics
detectives bought 1.5 pounds of methamphetamine from a trafficker. For the
first undercover buy of its kind, that was a huge amount, said narcotics
Cmdr. Michael Manley.

It's still too early to call this a trend, an epidemic or anything else, he
said.

"But it sure doesn't look good," Manley said.

"You hope your first buy is an ounce. This much means there is a real
market here. They didn't have a pound and half just for us."

In some areas, particularly the West, Southwest and Midwest,
methamphetamine is becoming the new crack cocaine. The high is longer, and
it's more addictive. The recipe is as available as the Internet, and many
of the ingredients can be purchased at the grocery store.

That's just where police say they found the most recent lab. Employees of
the Meijer store at 775 Georgesville Rd. called officers about a man they
suspected of shoplifting Sudafed cold medication and lithium batteries on
Monday night. Both can be used in the production of methamphetamine.

Police said they went through the man's van in the store parking lot and
found bottles of chemicals and an electric wok -- signs of mobile meth
production.

John O. Bond, 35, of Chillicothe, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor
theft.

Manley said he expected drug-related charges to be filed once an
investigation is complete.

The two other labs found in the past few days -- one on the South Side and
one on the Northeast Side -- were about the same size, able to produce 2 or
3 ounces of meth at a time, Manley said.

On the South Side, an outdoor lab was found in a field. Police are still
investigating the Northeast Side lab. No arrests have been made.

All that's needed is the medicine, some chemicals and something to cook
them with, he said.

But the pungent smell associated with production usually forces makers to
build their labs in rural areas or make them mobile, as in a van or
trailer, said Frank M. Magoch, special agent in charge of the Drug
Enforcement Administration's Ohio field offices.

About 100 small labs have been busted in Ohio in the past two years, he
said, most in the southwestern part of the state.

Meth production started on the West Coast years ago and has been traveling
east since, Magoch said.

Methamphetamine -- also called crystal meth, ice, glass and speed --
usually comes in powder or crystal form, according to DEA literature. It's
injected, snorted, smoked or swallowed. It can cause hyperactivity and
euphoria for as long as 12 hours. Meth goes for about $2,800 an ounce on
the street.

The large buy that police made two months ago was almost certainly made in
Texas or California, Manley said. A typical Ohio lab couldn't produce it.

Local law-enforcement agencies are working on what Ohio can produce --
Columbus police and the Franklin County Sheriff's Office have people
specially trained in the investigation and dismantling of the small labs,
and the DEA is trying to train more.

But central Ohio is still getting its first look at all of this.

"We're trying to see what the market does," Manley said. "Who's buying,
who's selling, where to cut it off."