STATE DETERMINED TO WIN METH WAR

If power comes in numbers, then last year's standing-room-only gathering to
hash out the state's methamphetamine problem showed a determination nearly
as strong as the drug itself. No one questioned the need to rid Oklahoma of
its embarrassing role as the state with the third-highest number of meth
lab seizures in the nation. The only question was how to do it.

Legislators offered an extra $22 million for state and local law
enforcement programs to combat methamphetamine. Money was earmarked for
treatment centers, while grants were given to local police to fight the
meth problem in their neighborhoods.

Regular citizens showed up to lend a hand.

Indeed, some progress has been made. Oklahoma, after all, has the harshest
penalty of any state for meth-related crimes.

Police say the problem hasn't gotten better. Treatment advocates and
politicians agree.

"Without a doubt, I expect the numbers to go up again this year and I think
we're already on track here in Oklahoma," said John Duncan, chief agent at
the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. "It's not going away."

Treatment options available Meth seizures totaled 1,193 statewide in 2001,
compared with 946 in 2000, according to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics
and Dangerous Drugs. That number was up from 781 lab seizures in 1999 and
275 in 1998.

To some, it seems one step forward means another step back.

More treatment options exist now, particularly for low-income women, using
money from the Temporary Aid for Needy Families, or the state welfare fund.
For the first time, Oklahoma now has treatment centers in every county,
said Ben Brown, deputy commissioner of substance abuse for the Department
of Mental Health.

Tulsa is building a 52-bed treatment center for men and women that should
be finished this year. And an adolescent treatment center is being built in
Norman.

Yet the waiting lists to get into treatment have grown, not shrunk. First
Step for women in Oklahoma City has its longest list yet, with 40 women
waiting, most of them meth addicts.

Even more disheartening is the success rate, fewer than 30 percent remain
clean after a rigorous nine-month program. Perhaps more than any other
addict, meth abusers return to their old habits as fast as the latch
catches on the jail door.

Budget cuts affect battle Meanwhile, the Oklahoma State Bureau of
Investigation used a federal grant to hire 10 more lab analysts, which
means evidence usually makes it to court in time for the hearing, unlike
last year.

But state budget cutbacks also have eliminated prosecutors, including one
in Sequoyah County, creating a hardship in offices already overwhelmed with
cases.

Dianne Barker-Harrold, the district attorney for several counties in
northeastern Oklahoma, lost two secretaries and one prosecutor. Her area is
infested with meth labs.

"You can't hire enough chemists that you need, you can't hire prosecutors,"
Barker- Harrold said.

And there's no way around the cost of cleaning up meth labs, which average
$2,500 apiece to start. Special training, protective gear, hazardous waste
removal, it all adds up. And it comes at a time when the crisis has peaked
and money is all too tight.

Other state cutbacks also will affect the meth battle. The state Department
of Human Services, for instance, will have a tough time taking in more meth
babies with fewer people and less money to do it with.

Problem goes beyond addict The number of meth labs found so far this year
is likely to equal that of last year, which equaled the year before.

"One of two things is happening. Either more and more people are doing it
every day, or they've been doing it all along and we're finally catching
them. My opinion is that there are just more and more people doing it,"
said state Sen. Dick Wilkerson, D-Atwood.

"It just seems to me we are doing the same thing over and over again
expecting different results. These guys are so easy to catch. They're not
rational, they're stupid."

Whenever agents figure out their chemical mix and stop the flow, they find
another recipe. Often, when agents surround their lab, a buddy warns them,
so they can go elsewhere and start another one.

Indeed, the problem goes well beyond the addict. In some counties, half of
the inmates in county jails are there because of methamphetamine. Counties
that can't afford more jailers wrestle with the problem. Some are forced to
raise taxes.

Child welfare workers are overtaxed with children of meth addicts, who come
into their care daily, often sick and socially deprived.

State hosting summit Health care is another factor touched by this
epidemic. Meth addicts are typically young and many will face a lifetime of
ailments, along with their children. Same with law enforcement officials
exposed to meth lab chemicals, some of whom now suffer from lung problems,
kidney and liver problems and a dozen other disabling diseases.

Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane will host a methamphetamine
summit in July. Oklahoma was chosen as one of four sites to host the
national summit, largely because of its No. 3 ranking in meth lab seizures.

Another step could be, simply, a cry for help.

Stamping out the meth epidemic could take all of the above, plus the
watchful eyes of neighbors who notice strange happenings, and retailers
questioning purchases. It could take caring counselors, or just caring
people to see these addicts through their dark days and accept them into
brighter ones. It may take things that no one has even thought of yet.

"It seems to me that sooner or later somebody is going to have to start
thinking outside the box," Wilkerson said. "It's a social problem, too.
We're spending millions if not billions of dollars on this."