Pubdate: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 Source: Columbian, The (WA) Copyright: 2005 The Columbian Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.columbian.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/92 Author: John Branton Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) FEWER METH LABS BUSTED IN COUNTY Each year, police bust fewer methamphetamine labs in Clark County and throughout Washington, but the illegal stimulant seems to be everywhere. Blame it on outsourcing: specifically couriers bringing pounds of already-cooked meth up Interstate 5 from southern locales. "The local market is so inundated with meth from Mexico and California that there's less of a need to produce it locally," Cmdr. Keith Kilian of the Clark-Skamania Drug Task Force said Thursday. Since 2001, when meth lab raids peaked, the numbers reported to the Washington Department of Ecology have declined each year, said Mary-Ellen Voss, spokeswoman for the department's chemical spills program. Several factors have helped drive down meth lab numbers, officials say: * Recently passed laws have limited the number of packages of over-the-counter cold pills containing pseudo-ephedrine, which can be used to make meth, that retail customers can buy in 24 hours. Beginning Oct. 1, stores will have to keep some such products behind counters and cannot sell to anyone younger than 18. And in January, a new law will take effect requiring stores to record names of customers buying medications containing pseudoephedrine and similar chemicals. * Canada has cracked down on some legal exports of large quantities of pseudo-ephedrine. * And some think local meth cooks, who typically produce only an ounce or two at a time, are getting more clever about avoiding detection. Some cooks have been dumping their incriminating chemical byproducts in rivers, causing pollution, Voss said. And others burn them in what look to passers-by like simple backyard trash burns. Still, meth remains plentiful, officials say. Last year, the Clark County prosecutor's office handled 604 cases involving meth, which amounted to 70 percent of all illegal drug-related cases and nearly 25 percent of all criminal cases, officials said in May. Also in May, drug detectives in Clark County and Clackamas County, Ore., made record-setting seizures of meth. Kilian's detectives found about 3 pounds of meth in a secret compartment of a Honda SUV belonging to a man they'd arrested earlier. A federal grand jury in May indicted two Oregon men after police in Clark and Clackamas counties seized 12 pounds of meth, the largest seizure on record in this area. About a third of the meth was found when the men were arrested in the parking lot of the Target store at 16200 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd. And also in May, a Clark County sheriff's detective stopped a Chevrolet Lumina van in Hazel Dell because it had a defective headlight. With the help of a drug-sniffing dog, officers found 2 pounds of meth in the van. In December, detectives seized 3 pounds of meth and arrested six alleged Mexican drug dealers at The Cascades apartment complex near Ellsworth Elementary School. [Sidebar] Reported Meth Labs Washington Department of Ecology figures in the first six months of: 2005 In Clark County 14 Statewide 511 2004 In Clark County 15 Statewide 721 2003 In Clark County 21 Statewide 821 - --- MAP posted-by: Beth