Pubdate: Sun, 13 May 2001
Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
Copyright: 2001 St. Paul Pioneer Press
Contact:  http://www.pioneerplanet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/379
Author: Evelyn Nieves, New York Times
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH `SUPERLABS' INUNDATE CALIFORNIA'S CENTRAL VALLEY

Along the country roads off Highway 99, it is plain to see why the 
Central Valley calls itself the nation's fruit basket. Rising from 
some of the richest soil in the world, rows of fig and almond trees 
give way to orange and lemon groves, grape and cherry orchards and 
lettuce and cabbage plants, as far as the eye can see. But hidden 
away on this soil, in abandoned barns and falling-down farmhouses, 
hundreds of laboratories are churning out illegal methamphetamine, 
the highly addictive stimulant that Barry McCaffrey, the former 
federal drug czar, has called ``the worst drug that has ever hit 
America.''

In the past few years, the Central Valley has become so inundated 
with methamphetamine laboratories -- many of them run by Mexican 
crime families -- that the Drug Enforcement Administration has 
labeled it a ``source nation'' for the drug.

Other states, particularly Washington, Missouri and Iowa, also have 
significant problems with methamphetamine labs, but 97 percent of the 
``superlabs'' that can be traced to Mexican drug operations are in 
California, law enforcement officials say.

Officials consider methamphetamine the fastest-growing illegal drug 
in the country, feeding an epidemic of addiction that they say rivals 
that of heroin and cocaine over the past few decades.

``In 1996, we looked at methamphetamine trafficking by the Mexican 
nationals and had 60 investigations,'' said Joe Keefe, chief of 
operations at the DEA. ``In the last couple of months, we had over 
800.''

The organizations have also expanded their marketing all over the 
country, he said, such that methamphetamine produced in California 
can be bought on the street in Portland, Maine.

But the impact is felt acutely here as the clandestine labs poison 
the Central Valley's soil with byproducts and tax the combined 
resources of special squads from dozens of police agencies. Officials 
have also expressed particular concerns about children who live in or 
near the labs and are exposed to dangerous fumes.

In the past decade, methamphetamine production has surged in the 
Central Valley. In 1999, 261 laboratories were seized in nine of the 
valley's 17 counties, triple the 73 seized seven years before.

But the cartels, officials say, see the raids simply as the price of business.

``We keep busting them,'' said William Ruzzamenti, a special agent 
for the DEA. ``But they keep setting up shop.''
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe