METH MENACE

Not A Homegrown Problem Anymore

It's not just here.

Law enforcement agencies in small towns and rural settings across the
state have been slammed with the ever-growing manufacture and
relative easy availability of methamphetamine.

Previous research showed the problem centered around clandestine
manufacturing labs in largely unpopulated areas.

That's not the case any more.

The menace has gone international.

Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler, who has seen his share of
fly-by-night drug operations, said the manufacture of meth in small
rural labs had an easy explanation.

"Less eyeballs," he said.

However, Fowler said when the legislature clamped down on the
purchase of pseudoephedrine over the counter a few years back, large
labs in Texas' rural areas all but ceased operation.

"It takes 1,000 capsules of pseudoephedrine to make one ounce of
meth," he said. "That makes it hard to come up with enough of it to
manufacture huge quantities."

Fowler said there are a few networks that spread out and go to drug
stores all over the Metroplex and buy all the main ingredient they
can get, but most of law enforcement's headaches over meth are no
longer homegrown.

"There are still small labs around," he said. "We can handle those.
Now people can't just walk into Wal-Mart and get an arm load of
pseudoephedrine to make meth."

He said the real threat comes from what he calls "superlabs" located
south of the border.

"Ice from Mexico is what's prevalent," Fowler said. "It's coming
across our borders by the ton. Unless the government gets serious
about securing our borders, this is a problem we're going to have
forever."

Recent data would indicate the Parker County sheriff hit the nail
right on the head.

According to a Public Broadcasting Service Report from 2006, the
United States Drug Enforcement Agency says 65 percent of all meth
consumed in the country comes from Mexican drug cartels, more than
half from superlabs in Mexico and 12 percent from Mexican-run
superlabs in the United States.

The report adds Mexico imported more than 224 tons of pseudoephedrine
in 2004, mostly from India, Germany and China. The total import of
the decongestant is about twice what the country needs to ward off
the effects of colds and allergies.

A New York Times editorial from Aug. 2, 2007, parroted what Fowler
said -- Mexican meth manufacturers have all but replaced American
versions of the drug.

The editorial says southwest border seizures of imported meth
increased from just over 2,700 pounds in 2003, to more than 4,300
pounds in 2005, while the number of labs seized nationwide fell by
almost 50 percent during the same time frame.

"The shift of the meth supply is changing the American market for
illegal substances," editorial writer Eduardo Porter said. "The
National Drug Intelligence Center reports that nearly 40 percent of
state and local law enforcement officials nationwide say meth now
represents the greatest drug threat to their areas."

While the manufacture of methamphetamine may have been moved south of
the border, illicit use of the bootleg stimulant remains a problem in
America's small towns.

According to a 2006 report from the South Carolina Rural Health
Research Center, teens in small towns in that state run a
significantly greater risk of using drugs than either suburban or
urban young people. More specifically, the proportion of rural teens
who reported using meth was almost double that of their counterparts
in urban and suburban settings.

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal voiced the frustrations of politicians,
parents, clergy and law enforcement officials nationwide.

"It doesn't matter where we go in the state," Freudenthal said,
"methamphetamine is there. The whole issue is eating us alive."

Even Native American populations are reporting increased use on
reservations. In 1997, hospitals run by the Indian Health Service
treated fewer than 150 people for stimulant abuse. By 2004, the
number had ballooned to almost 5,000.

A 2006 report by the Carsey Institute notes what local police and
sheriff's deputies have feared. Our small towns have been invaded.

"Rates of meth use were fairly comparable for rural and urban
Americans until 2003," the report states, "when differences seemed to
emerge."

Researchers for the report, Substance Abuse in Rural America, found
young adults' use of meth jumped by almost a third in the six-year
period that ended in 2006.

Fowler adds drug use locally contributes mightily to the overall
crime rate. He maintains illicit drugs are responsible for more than
90 percent of all crimes committed.

A recent Parker County Grand Jury returned 27 indictments, according
to Fowler, and 24 were based on illegal drug use.

"It effects everything," he said. "We get calls for domestic
violence, theft, burglary, and they all boil down to drug use."