SMALL TOWNS NO ESCAPE FROM ILLEGAL DRUG USE

Judging by the number of exploding meth labs in rural and small-town
central Illinois, people seeking to escape the dangers of drugs may be
tempted to move back to the big city.

In the last few weeks alone, alleged illegal drug makers have managed to
set themselves afire in Pekin, draw the attention of a state conservation
officer on the lookout for illegal dumping in rural Peoria County, get
snared in a multi-county federal net (17 were indicted), and plead guilty
to charges in Woodford County that could put them in prison for seven
years. All are alleged to be involved in brewing methamphetamine, a nervous
system stimulant which is smoked, snorted or injected. It appeals to people
willing to trade the risk of violent paranoia, liver and lung damage for a
half-day euphoric high. Go figure.

The main ingredient in meth is anhydrous ammonia, a farm fertilizer, which
partly explains why meth labs are popping up in places like rural Astoria
as opposed to Peoria's Center Bluff. There are other reasons: Brewing a
batch of meth stinks, there's a serious storage problem, and small-town and
small-county police don't have the resources to commit to drug patrol.
Moreover, some of the same forces that depress city neighborhoods plague
rural ones as well: joblessness, poverty, hopelessness. That's a breeding
ground for drug sales and abuse.

The FBI says that in the last five years, drug crime arrests have fallen
more than 11 percent in cities over 250,000 but risen by almost the same
amount in rural areas. The percentage of drug-related homicides in
America's countrysides tripled in the 1990s, while falling by half in major
cities. Methamphetamine usage is higher among students in rural schools
than urban ones. Partnership for a Drug-Free America says more teens use
meth than cocaine, crack or heroin.

"It (meth production) seems to be heating up pretty hard right now," says
Larry Hawkins, head of the Multi-County Enforcement Unit (MEG) serving
Knox, Peoria, Tazewell, Stark and Marshall counties. In all of the year
2000, MEG agents investigated and dismantled 32 meth labs in participating
counties; last year they took apart 34. In a year that is just six weeks
old, Hawkins' team already has uncovered 18 such labs.

Beyond the obvious reason for concern - meth is highly addictive -
production affords some unique hazards: deadly vapors, dangerous gases and
volatility. It's easy to see why neighbors would be alarmed. This kind of
thing can be as damaging to small towns as drug runners standing on city
street corners are to larger ones.

Methamphetamine is one of the reasons Woodford County is exploring MEG
group membership. For a price that would be negotiated, county residents
would get access to services and personnel their small governments could
not afford: trained investigators, undercover officers, paid informants.
This is no miracle cure, but it is one useful therapy among many. Woodford
can no longer argue that it couldn't use the help.