A SCOURGE IN OUR AREA

Explosion At Bulls Gap Brings Home Multiple Dangers Of Methamphetamine Labs

No one really needed proof that the manufacture of methamphetamine is
dangerous, but the death of two men and the critical injuries to a third in
a meth lab explosion should drive that point home.

The explosion occurred near Bulls Gap in Hawkins County in Northeast
Tennessee. Law enforcement officers suspect that Friday night's explosion
wasn't reported until the following Monday night because of the illegal
nature of the work in the mobile home.

Meth labs are the most recent scourge of all the dangers falling under the
collective heading of drug abuse. The labs appear to be moving eastward
from the Midwest because of a crackdown in the heartland states.

Indeed, they have hit Tennessee - East Tennessee, particularly - with a
vengeance. More than half of the meth labs seized in the Justice
Department's eight-state, Southeastern region in 2001 were in the Volunteer
State.

If East Tennessee were a separate state, it would be ranked second behind
Arkansas in a 12-state area in the South. Meth lab incidents, according to
the National Drug Intelligence Center, numbered 234 in this area - 476
total in all of Tennessee - to Arkansas' 330.

Authorities say the street price of the drug - a stimulant derived largely
from over-the-counter cold medications - makes it worth the danger to those
who manufacture it - even at risk of their lives. Dealers can get $100 per
gram and $1,700 per ounce.

The meth labs often can be difficult to track because they literally can be
fly-by-night operations, with makeshift labs small enough to fit into
suitcases. The labs might be out in the woods, like the one in the mobile
home in Bulls Gap, or in residences, outbuildings, storage facilities,
apartments or similar places.

The dangers, of course, go beyond the manufacturing process and definitely
include the users - high school and college students, among others.
Methamphetamines can cause irreversible damage to blood vessels in the
brain, cardiovascular collapse, an extreme rise in body temperature and
convulsions.

There also is a threat to the general public as well in the hazardous waste
produced by the labs. Those unknowingly near a meth lab can be at risk for
breathing toxic fumes and developing serious health problems.

Cleaning up meth lab sites is expensive. The federal Drug Enforcement
Administration said the average cost for cleaning up sites from the 476
labs seized in Tennessee in 2001 was $3,000 per site.

While the mountains, hills and wooded areas offer a shield to those setting
up meth labs in the state, there are comparatively few law enforcement
officers concentrating on seizing meth labs.

Larry Wallace, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said the
TBI has fewer than 50 agents statewide dedicated to drug enforcement.

The TBI is requesting $1 million to hire, train and equip nine agents to
concentrate on meth labs. That would appear more than reasonable, but his
request is on hold pending passage of the final budget.

We applaud the expansion, announced Thursday, of the task force aimed at
slowing the number of illegal labs in Tennessee, but it would have made a
much stronger statement to also announce more crime-fighting personnel and
funding for the task force. Greater resources are needed.

Meanwhile, the deadly work in meth labs continues. It is a danger that
affects all people of the region, not because we are potential drug users
but because we know that those who deal in drugs don't care who buys them -
adults or teenagers, our children or those in other neighborhoods - and
they don't care who might get hurt by their clandestine operation.

Bringing this scourge - as Wallace has called it - under control will
require the best efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

At the least, they should have the best resources to do their jobs as
thoroughly and professionally as possible.