METH LABS; LOCAL POLICE SENDING MESSAGE: YOU WILL BE CAUGHT

Methamphetamine is growing in popularity among the illegal drug crowd
in part because it is a cheap high and fairly easy to get. Add to
that the relative ease of home manufacture and you have an illegal
substance capable of supplanting others as the biggest drug abuse
threat to society.

And that appears to be particularly true in the Texarkana area, where
hardly a week goes by without area law enforcement agencies finding
and busting up an illicit meth lab. It's good news that police are
making steady progress in locating and destroying these labs, but
disturbing news that there seems to be so many of them.

One of the things that makes life good around here also is one of the
things that makes the area a prime location for meth labs--its rural
nature. Meth-makers, because of the noticeable chemical odors
resulting from meth manufacture, require lots of space between them
and their neighbors so they can cook up their concoctions without
being noticed. So there's plenty of room for them to operate around
here; that is, as long as they can get away with it.

Which, we all should hope, isn't for very long.

It isn't news to informed people that drug addicts commit other
crimes--theft and robbery chief among them--to help pay for their
drug habits. That puts everyday people and their belongings in
jeopardy when addicts become desperate enough to steal--or kill--to
get what they need. Look at the news stories and see how often police
also find firearms and weapons in proximity to drug labs and places
where drugs are stored or sold.

It's a dangerous game these folks are playing. That's why it is
important that local law enforcement agencies keep hammering away at
meth labs and those who operate them. By doing so, they'll be sending
a strong, clear message to meth-makers:

We're watching and listening, and we're going to catch you someday.
It might not be today or tomorrow, but someday soon the knock at your
door will be us--and you're going to jail.