Pubdate: Mon, 16 Apr 2001
Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)
Copyright: 2001 Denver Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.denver-rmn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/371
Author: John C. Ensslin
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METRO AREA SEEING SURGE IN METH LABS

83 Sites Discovered In Past Three Months

A cleaning crew was surprised to find cat box litter beneath the rug inside 
an Adams County motel room.

It was not the sign of a sloppy cat owner, but evidence of something far 
deadlier.

The "guests" who had just cleared out were using the room to cook up a 
small batch of methamphetamine.

They vented the highly toxic gases into absorbent clay cat box filler and 
left it behind. The process exposed motel guests to the risk of fire or 
explosion.

The number of such makeshift clandestine laboratories uncovered in the 
metro area has mushroomed in the past 12 months.

In the past three months alone, narcotics officers have discovered 83 labs 
- -- half the total for the six-county metro area for all of last year.

"The last four years, we've doubled every year," said Sgt. Ray Booras of 
the West Metro Drug Task Force. "The only reason we won't double this year 
is that we flat run out of time to do them."

The trend mirrors a pattern nationwide. According to the U.S. Justice 
Department, law enforcement seized 7,200 clandestine meth labs in 1999.

The National Drug Intelligence Center's Drug Threat Assessment for 2001 
ranked methamphetamine as the second-greatest drug threat facing the United 
States.

The escalation is the result of a refinement in the way methamphetamine is 
being produced, said Sgt. Jim Gerhardt of the North Metro Drug Task Force.

A decade ago, meth labs tended to be discovered in rural areas where a 
"cook" with some background in chemistry would produce large batches of the 
drug.

The production often took up to 72 hours and generated an intense, 
ammonia-like odor similar to cat urine, Gerhardt said. Thus, meth labs 
often were located in rural areas.

Dealers found a simpler way to make a purer grade of methamphetamine. They 
remove one oxygen molecule from the over-the-counter decongestant ephedrine 
or pseudoephedrine.

The process takes about 10 hours and requires far less extensive knowledge 
of chemistry, Gerhardt said.

The new methods have spawned a new kind of operation called "box labs" 
since the materials can be contained in a cardboard box.

Police have found the more portable box labs in automobiles, apartments, 
storage units, an airplane hangar, mobile homes and, with alarming 
frequency, in motel rooms.

Earlier this year, Denver police found two labs in one block. People in the 
drug trade referred to the labs as "the compound," but others in the 
neighborhood never knew they existed.

Most of the box labs have been found in Denver's suburbs. Of the 166 labs 
busted in 2000, all but 20 were in the suburbs.

The smaller labs have changed the distribution pattern of the drug and its 
prosecution, said Tom Ward, assistant special agent in charge of the Denver 
office of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

In the past, dealers would make 5 kilograms of the drug at a time and 
distribute it through a network, 1 kilo at a time, Ward said.

"Now there are guys making 2 ounces at a time, one of which is for their 
selves," he added. "They'll sell it to their friends 10 grams at a time. 
And nobody has the time to get involved in a 10-gram case."

While the labs tend to cook smaller batches, they still pose a considerable 
risk of explosion and environmental hazards, said Lt. John Costigan of the 
Denver Police Department's narcotics bureau.

"We're concerned that one of these days we're going to have an explosion or 
a fire call to one of these motels," Costigan said.

The West Metro Drug Task force recently issued a flier to motel employees, 
describing tell-tale clues to people using rooms as makeshift labs.

They warned employees to be suspicious of guests who shun room service or 
bring in large quantities of glassware or cat box liner.

Authorities estimate every pound of methamphetamine produced generates 
about 6 pounds of hazardous waste.

In Denver alone, narcotics officers confiscated 209 pounds of 
methamphetamine last year. That means the dealers had to dispose of more 
than 1,200 pounds of hazardous waste.

Earlier this month, narcotics officers found 220 pounds of hazardous waste 
near a Thornton mobile home with three labs inside.

There was just enough waste that investigators had to apply for a special 
permit from the Environmental Protection Agency in order to move it, 
Gerhardt said.

Sgt. Ray Booras of the West Metro Drug Task Force worries about patrol 
officers who may be exposed to chemicals while responding to routine calls 
that could reveal a lab.

"The thing that's kind of frightening for us is that no one really knows 
what the long-term effects are," he said.

Denver narcotics investigator Marty Vanover knows some of the short-term 
effects firsthand.

Vanover was accidently exposed to some iodine during one investigation. It 
left him with a loss of hearing for several weeks.

Later, he mentioned this to a guy who had been busted for manufacturing meth.

"He said, `Yeah, I used to be like that when I first started, but I'm used 
to it now,' " Vanover said, adding "their need for methamphetamine 
overcomes their concern for their own health."
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