Pubdate: Mon, 27 Nov 2000
Source: Cincinnati Post (OH)
Copyright: 2000 The Cincinnati Post
Contact:  http://www.cincypost.com/
Author: Andrew Conte, Post staff reporter

METH: CHEAP, EASY, DANGEROUS

Residents of North Fairmount started calling police late one evening,
complaining about an acrid - but apparently familiar - odor drifting from
the shed behind an abandoned house.

''They're cooking that stuff again,'' said one neighbor.

The concoction brewing inside would have served the region's growing
appetite for an illegal drug called methamphetamine, according to court
records. Police found a clandestine lab stocked with ether, drain cleaner,
torn batteries and cylinders of farm fertilizer.

Five people would later plead guilty to the attempted manufacture or
trafficking of methamphetamine.

Dubbed America's ''fastest growing drug threat'' by federal agents, the
substance - also known as speed, ice, and crystal - has moved from the West
Coast through the Heartland and into Cincinnati. After finding several
makeshift laboratories throughout the region in recent months, police say
they are bracing for what could be an epidemic.

''We have seen a lot of increased activity and we're certainly gearing up,''
said Jeff Martin, interim director of the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike
Force.

Relatively easy to make with ingredients culled from any local convenience
store, meth use started showing up in large numbers around Louisville and
Western Kentucky more than two years ago. The number of criminal cases
involving the drug there has more than doubled in the last year.

Now indications show that the problem seems to be moving into the Cincinnati
region:

Authorities recently found two meth labs in Cincinnati, two in Northern
Kentucky and two in Warren County. The latest one was discovered inside a
Northside duplex Monday night, police said, when officers responded to a
domestic violence call.

''It's coming this way,'' said Sgt. Mark Hasenohr in the Cincinnati Police
Street Corner Unit. ''Before this year, there were no meth labs; now we've
got two just in the city.''

The number of meth items seized in Hamilton, Clermont and Butler counties
has increased from 16 in 1997 to 39 last year, according to the Hamilton
County Coroner's Office, which analyzes drugs taken by police.

Amphetamines in general, which include meth and Ecstasy, nearly tripled from
26 items three years ago to 76 in 1999.

Calls about methamphetamine to the Cincinnati Drug and Poison Information
Center doubled from 25 in 1998 to 53 last year. Calls about all amphetamines
rose from 150 to 217.

But perhaps the most telling indications of all have been that some local
stores are reporting runs on cough medicines and lithium batteries, while
farmers are increasingly having their fertilizer swiped. All are essential
components for making the drug at home.

Unlike cocaine or heroin, meth does not have to come from some distant shore
through the dragnet of drug enforcement agents. Most ingredients are readily
available in some form or another.

And different from LSD, the drug can be made at home by someone with no or
little knowledge of chemistry: Recipes are available on the Internet, but
many people learn by word of mouth and watching someone else.

''It's a better high than cocaine and you can make it in your kitchen
sink,'' said Kent Wicker, criminal division chief for the U.S. Attorney's
Office in Western Kentucky.

Much of the meth seized in the past had come from so-called ''super
laboratories'' in California and Mexico, according to the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Agency. But increasingly, the drugs are being made closer to
Cincinnati in homes, hotel rooms and farm sheds, police said. For an
investment of as little as $90, dealers can manufacture about $3,000 worth
of meth, Martin said.

Stores in Northern Kentucky have noticed people buying or shoplifting large
quantities of the key ingredients, he added. Many seem to be people from
other parts of the state where stores have limited the purchase amounts of
some items and set up sting operations to catch thieves.

The number of meth labs in Western Kentucky has grown by 75 percent in the
last year to an estimated 96, according to federal agents, while local
authorities believe the numbers may be higher. Drug cases involving meth
statewide have risen from 410 in 1999 to 839 this year, with almost all of
them taking place west of Interstate 65, Wicker said.

Home labs are gaining popularity because they can be quick to assemble and
profitable, but they can be just as lethal.

The chemical reactions needed to make meth can ignite ferocious explosions
and leak poisonous gas. Police investigating clandestine labs must be
specially trained and wear protection suits costing about $3,000 each.

Even for chemists working in laboratory conditions, the production method
poses hazards, said E. Don Nelson, professor of clinical pharmacology at the
University of Cincinnati's College of Medicine. People making meth in a
clandestine lab rarely appreciate the risks.

''The danger is they really don't understand what they're doing,'' he said.
''And they don't understand the toxic and explosive nature of some of the
chemicals they are dealing with.''

Unlike authorities in other parts of the country, local police have the
advantage of preparing for the arrival of meth before it hits. Agencies are
already investing in safety equipment and training to handle illegal
laboratories and the booming trade the drug seems to create.

Interest in the drug has grown exponentially nationwide. A federal survey of
drug use showed that 9.4 million Americans had tried methamphetamine in
their lifetime as of last year - an increase from 3.8 million in 1994.

Cincinnati officials might have hoped that the drug fad would pass over the
region, but few believe that will happen any more.

''It's getting a lot worse all over the country and it's gonna come here,''
Hasenohr said.
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