METH SEIZURES INCREASE 500 PERCENT

Easier Process Has More People Making The Drug, Police Say

Methamphetamine seizures in Denver in the first six months of this year
increased by nearly 500 percent over the same period last year, figures
released Thursday show.

By June, undercover officers already had seized nearly as much meth as they
did all of last year.

"We're doubling every year," said Denver police Detective Marty Vanover.

Vanover says more of the drug is being made, spurred by a streamlining in
the way the drug is produced and the spiraling desires of tweakers, or meth
addicts.

Today's methods are quicker, don't produce as strong an odor and can be
done in a small room or the trunk of a car, he said.

So more people are buying meth, and many begin making it for themselves.

"The number of users aren't doubling, just the number of people making it,"
he said. "It's a great concern to us."

During the first six months of 2001, Denver police seized a little over 12
pounds of meth from about 26 clandestine labs, a record for the city.

But in the first half of 2002, detectives had beaten that number by 492
percent, pulling in 71.21 pounds of the drug from just 21 labs.

It's a scenario that Vanover has seen playing out for the past four years.

"In 1999 we seized nine labs, in 2000 22, in 2001 38 and we have already
done 29 this year," he said.

Lt. Lori Moriarty of the North Metro Drug Task Force, which doesn't include
Denver, says her group has seen a similar increase. It seized about 13
pounds of meth in the first half of 2001 from 31 labs, and 22 pounds of
meth in the first half of this year from 51 labs.

"Eighty percent of that meth comes into the state from Mexico, but it's the
20 percent that's made in the state that's just killing us," she said.
"It's those that are taking hotels, apartments, homes to make the drugs and
they are contaminating everything."

The locations of those labs have slowly moved from the county and isolated
buildings to the inner city.

"The last one we did was across the street from Morey (Middle School)."
Vanover said. "It was within 200 feet of it; that puts a lot of people at
risk."

The risks come from chemical fumes, fires and explosions, not to mention
the people selling and using the drug.

Denver police have two teams of seven officers on call 24 hours a day to
deal just with meth, but Vanover says it's probably not enough.

"I believe we are getting the tip of the iceberg," he said. "But you can't
commit a whole bureau to just one drug, or the rest of the drugs run rampant."