TENNESSEE BATTLE AGAINST METH ISN'T OVER, DEA DIRECTOR SAYS

KNOXVILLE -- Drug Enforcement Administration Director Asa Hutchinson
suggested Thursday that Tennessee may be winning the battle against
methamphetamine but the drug war isn't over.

U.S. Attorney Sandy Mattice agreed, saying that a task force attack on the
highly addictive stimulant begun three years ago in southeast Tennessee
will be expanded to all 41 counties in East Tennessee.

"In Tennessee, we know that the number of labs seized and taken down by law
enforcement is dramatically up," Hutchinson, a former federal prosecutor
and Arkansas congressman, told a news conference.

"I think that is a tribute to good law enforcement, but also a reflection
of the fact that methamphetamine is increasing in its home use and
development," he said.

Hutchinson is touring the country as part of what he calls his
"Methamphetamine in America: Not in Our Town Tour." Over the next three
months, he plans to visit 30 states where meth has become a problem.

Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies formed a Southeast
Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force in response to the explosive growth of
the so-called poor man's cocaine in 18 southeastern counties.

"We are very proud of the results," Mattice said.

Since late 1999, the task force has seized 684 methamphetamine labs,
arrested more than 515 people, confiscated more than 140 weapons and
returned 148 federal indictments.

These drug lab seizures represent 75 percent of the meth lab seizures in
the state, pointing to the concentration of both criminal and law
enforcement interest in methamphetamine in southeast Tennessee.

"Our intelligence from the field indicates that within the task force
region, overall volume of methamphetamine activities seems to be on the
decline," Mattice said.

"Unfortunately, we cannot report the scourge of methamphetamine has
disappeared entirely from East Tennessee.

"Indeed, we believe that we are beginning to see a rise in activity in more
of the northeast counties of the state."

A methamphetamine lab exploded last week in a mobile home in Hawkins
County, killing two men and severely injuring a third.

Hutchinson said the DEA has been tracking the eastward spread of
methamphetamine from California for several years.

The drug's greatest appeal seems to be in rural areas, where it can be
easily made with readily available contents: cold pills, nail polish
remover, rubbing alcohol, salt and batteries.

"To call it a lab is almost a misnomer," Mattice said. "What we call a lab
consists of nothing more sophisticated than maybe one or two beakers,
gasoline containers, coffee filters and cold remedy."

But the results can be dangerous not only for the manufacturer and the
user, but anyone living near a meth lab, the law enforcement officers who
raid it and the environmental workers who clean it up.

"Can we get a handle on this in Tennessee?" Hutchinson said he asked local
law enforcement agencies. "The answer was: Yes."