Tougher laws curtailing meth labs, but trafficking now more of a problem

While busts of methamphetamine labs decreased over the past year in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, the drug has maintained its hold on users, law enforcement officials say.

Police credit laws passed in 2005 in both states restricting the sale of drugs containing pseudoephedrine with the decrease in meth labs. Pseudoephedrine, a common ingredient used to manufacture methamphetamine, is found in over-the-counter cold and allergy medications.

Over-the-counter medications containing pseudoephedrine now must be purchased in limited quantities through a pharmacy rather than picked up off the shelf. Purchasers must show identification and sign a log sheet.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, busts of meth labs throughout the state decreased from 2,218 in 2005 to 1,284 in 2006. Those numbers include laboratories, lab dump sites and chemical, equipment and glassware seizures.

Missouri, which has been the state with the biggest methamphetamine problem in the country over the years, still ranked highest in meth lab busts in 2006. Illinois followed with 759 lab busts, and Indiana had 689.

SEMO Drug Task Force officer Mike Alford said states with lower numbers of meth labs busts, such as California with 364 in 2006, could be bigger producers of the deadly drug due to the size of the actual labs and their ability to produce more meth.

California is such a significant producer of meth it exports the drug to other states, including Missouri, he said.

Alford said Missouri has always had small clandestine labs easily set up in the state's many rural areas.

Historically manufacturers, known as "cooks," carried their supplies to open fields and made as much as they needed for themselves and a bit more to sell, leaving the hazardous materials behind to endanger the environment and other people, he said.

Cooks moved inside

In the heyday of Missouri meth labs, which started cropping up in 2000 and proliferated throughout much of 2005, the drug task force was pushed to its limits containing the problem, Alford said. Today, due to pseudoephedrine limitations, labs aren't usually found outdoors but inside residences where smaller amounts are made but perhaps more frequently, he said.

With the pseudoephedrine restrictions, Alford said, trafficking has now become a problem.

Last year, 14 labs were reported in Cape Girardeau County, down from 20 in 2005, according to patrol statistics. "The law has had a dramatic effect in cutting down the methamphetamine labs in our area," said Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle.

Swingle said the county has seen increased importation of meth from other places. Kansas City, Mo., and Blytheville, Ark., seem to be the biggest suppliers, he said.

Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter said the county has experienced a resurgence of meth trafficking from Mexico, California and Arizona now that the number of labs is down. In 2005 Scott County reported eight labs, according to the highway patrol. In 2006 six were reported.

But trafficking is not a new experience for the county, he said. "That's the way it used to be long ago before the local cooks got the recipes," he said.

Walter has also cracked down on methamphetamine in the county by turning the sheriff's office into a 24/7 operation when he took office in January 2005.

Shortly after the change took effect deputies arrested a meth user who supported his habit by burglarizing houses at night when he knew no police were on duty. When arrested the suspect was linked to about 22 burglaries in the county, Walter said.

He deplores the existence of any meth in the county. "You look at the kids that get hooked on it," he said. "You see a lot of families, their lives ruined over this garbage. That's what bothers me more than anything."

Still, the change in the law and stepped-up police work have sent some meth manufacturers packing, he said. "I hated that they got away. But they're not in my county selling drugs anymore."

Southern Illinois reported a similar decrease in meth labs, according to Tom McNamara, director of special projects for the Southern Illinois Drug Task Force Group based in Carbondale, Ill.

"We're not going to stop the labs, but we're going to slow them down so there aren't 60 or 70 labs in a county," he said.

According to Illinois State Police Capt. Scott Rice, the task force supervisor, in 2005 the unit reported 378 meth labs within a 31-county area that includes Alexander and Union counties. The number dropped to 248 labs in 2006.

Rice said the numbers included anyone arrested for cooking methamphetamine as well as reports of cooking incidents where the suspects were gone but had left their materials behind.

"Not only are the numbers of labs down, but also the size of the labs is way down," Rice said.

In Union County, Ill., police began to get reports of thefts of anhydrous ammonia from distributors in the county in 1993 and 1994, said Sheriff David Livesay. The fertilizer used by farmers is another ingredient in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

Livesay said the county was paralyzed from the ballooning thefts and proliferation of meth labs. "It just mushroomed from 1995 to 2005," he said.

Since the pseudoephedrine law took effect, the number of labs has dropped but use has not, he said.

Since taking office in January, Livesay has been tackling the problem by enforcing the laws against drug manufacturers and dealers and educating the public about methamphetamine. "I feel education about methamphetamine is the most beneficial," he said.

The sheriff's department has hosted seminars at the local schools, educating faculty and staff about what to look for in users, how meth affects users and what happens to children exposed to the drug. New search and seizure laws have put a bite into those who make and sell drugs of any kind, Livesay said.

Can seize property

If a person is convicted of either, police can seize and sell the felon's personal property, with proceeds being split between involved law enforcement agencies. Funds are placed into a drug enforcement fund to further the fight against drugs in Union County.

"We're trying every effort," Livesay said. "I'm just giving notice to the methamphetamine users in Union County: If you're going to use drugs and you're caught, you're going to lose anything that is seizable under the law."

Despite the decrease in labs, the scourge of meth remains. Livesay said he is bracing for meth trafficking, which he said had not been a problem before in the county.

carel@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127

---

Methamphetamine, also called speed, crank or chalk, is an addictive stimulant drug related to amphetamine. Methamphetamine hydrochloride is a clear, chunky crystal resembling ice cubes. Thus its street name of ice, crystal or glass.

Meth can be inhaled by smoking, snorting or injecting. Long-term users can develop serious medical problems including brain damage and dental problems.

SEMO Drug Task Force officer Brenda Cone, a Missouri State Highway Patrol sergeant, said children can be victimized by methamphetamine. Meth cooks and users expose their children to possible chemical contamination or burns in a meth lab home and may leave them to fend for themselves if their parents are too high to care for them.