SURGE IN METH LABS SLOWING

Busts Of Explosive Drug Factories Plateau After Years Of Steep Leaps

The number of methamphetamine labs raided by N.C. law enforcement has
leveled off after several years of sharp rises -- a sign, state and local
officials say, that anti-meth measures are working.

Demand for the drug is as high as ever, officials say, but police agencies
know more about the problem and pursue it more aggressively.

And they believe that new state laws, particularly anticipation of one that
restricts the sales of cold medicine -- a key ingredient in manufacturing
meth -- have dented a drug trade they had feared would overwhelm the state.

"We've made a concerted effort in North Carolina to find and destroy meth
labs," state Attorney General Roy Cooper told the Observer.

"We know these factors are making a difference."

The number of meth lab raids in North Carolina evened out last year at 320,
nearly the same as the 322 raided in 2004, according to the N.C. State
Bureau of Investigation.

In the last few years, the number of raids has risen dramatically each
year, beginning with 34 in 2001 and rising to 98 in 2002 and 177 in 2003.

Officials admit, though, that it's hard to gauge how much difference the
new laws have made, whether they're responsible for all of the leveling in
lab busts or just part of it.

Other factors come into play: The ability of some meth manufacturers, or
cookers, to hide labs; a rise in finished meth smuggled into the state; and
the lack of similar laws in South Carolina, which makes it easy for cookers
to cross the state line and buy the ingredients

The new N.C. law restricts the sale of certain kinds of cold medicine that
contain pseudoephedrine, a key meth component. The law won't take effect
until Jan. 15, Cooper said, but many N.C. retailers have started following
it. That means cookers are struggling to obtain large amounts of
pseudoephedrine.

"It's just another pain in the butt for pharmacists, in a business that
already has more pains in the butt than you can imagine," said Carl
Craddock, who's owned Metroview Pharmacy on Randolph Road in Charlotte for
28 years. "But it is the responsible thing to do, so we're doing it."

Down from the mountains

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive drug that began to bleed into the
N.C. mountains about five years ago from Tennessee.It's especially
dangerous because users can prepare it easily with readily available
ingredients. Meth produces toxic fumes and byproducts and causes
respiratory and other health problems for chronic users.

Recently, the meth trade has shown signs of moving from the mountains into
the foothills and Piedmont. Mountainous Burke County, for example, had five
fewer busts in 2005 than in 2004.

"I think it's 100 percent due to the new legislation," said Burke Sheriff
John McDevitt. "Everybody's already gearing up for it. I think that's going
to have a huge effect."

But Mecklenburg County had six more busts, up from one in 2004. It's a
natural progression, echoed in other states, for meth use to start in
remote rural areas and gradually make its way to cities, said Capt. Bruce
Bellamy, the head of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's Vice and
Narcotics Unit.

Also, Charlotte's growth has virtually guaranteed that some meth cookers
and users from elsewhere have taken up residence in the city.

Other states have cut significantly into their lab bust totals by
restricting access to pseudoephedrine. Cooper said the new N.C. law was
modeled on similar laws in Iowa, Oklahoma and Tennessee -- where the number
of busts were cut in half or more after their laws took effect.

Such laws generally work, as long as they're accompanied by genuine
cooperation among law enforcement, social service agencies, treatment
centers and businesspeople, said Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Dodging the law

Still, officials said, drug users tend to find ways to circumvent the law.

Van Shaw, the head of the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation's Clandestine
Lab Unit, said law enforcement officials statewide hear from users that
smugglers increasingly ship finished meth into North Carolina from
so-called "superlabs" in Texas, California and Mexico.

Buying finished product cuts the risk of detection, Shaw said. The SBI has
no hard meth-smuggling data. But Cooper's office hopes to have a meth
trafficking task force of federal, state and local authorities in place by
spring.

Still, some cookers have mastered the art of hiding labs. Meth took hold in
the N.C. mountains in part because they offer so many secluded,
hard-to-reach spots. Of the 320 labs the SBI responded to last year, Shaw
said, 15 to 20 percent showed signs that the cookers tried to hide it.

Agents have discovered labs 100 yards deep in the woods behind houses, and,
at others, components concealed in camouflaged beer coolers, Shaw said. The
discoveries lead him to believe more exist than his agents are finding.

They also can't be sure how many people are crossing into South Carolina,
buying cold medicine in bulk and returning to North Carolina to cook.

A bill to restrict cold medicine sales is expected to pass the S.C. House
of Representatives early this year, said Jeff Moore, executive director of
the S.C. Sheriffs' Association. The organization hopes it will take effect
by 2007.

N.C. law enforcement must adjust to all the changes as the meth trade
transforms itself, Shaw said.

"Are we finding all the labs that are out there? No. We know that," he
said. "That's always been the trend: Everywhere we put pressure, they come
up with different ways to get it. That's always the cat-and-mouse game in
drug enforcement."