Pubdate: Mon, 03 Jan 2005
Source: Globe-Gazette (IA)
Copyright: 2005 Globe-Gazette
Contact: http://www.globegazette.com/sitepages/modules/editorltr.shtml
Website: http://www.globegazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1568
Author: Dan Gearino, Globe Des Moines Bureau
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

1,301 METH LABS FOUND IN 2004

Meth abuse has a lengthy and sorry history, and it still remains a
costly problem for our region. Lives are shattered. The costs of
treatment, law enforcement and social services are borne by taxpayers,
all because of a drug with an immediate allure and an addictive nature.

People across North Iowa are arrested and sometimes imprisoned for
crimes involving meth, including manufacturing the illegal drug,
selling it or engaging in other illegal acts to gain drug money or
protect drug profits.

Today's presentation continues "Descent Into Darkness," a series of
special reports on the costs we all share because of methamphetamine
abuse.

DES MOINES -- Iowa law-enforcement officials shut down a record 1,301
meth labs in 2004, evidence that the drug's popularity continues to
outpace efforts to control it.

"Methamphetamine labs are still a problem in Iowa. We're not seeing a
reduction," said Sean McCullough, special agent in charge for the Iowa
Division of Narcotics Enforcement.

The 2004 total, reported by the Iowa Department of Public Safety last
week, could still be revised because of late reports. It breaks the
record of 1,195 set in 2003, continuing a steady rise that started in
the mid-1990s with just a handful of cases.

An increasing number of meth lab busts could be seen as evidence of
improving enforcement.

"We don't know whether that means it's all an increase in labs, or
it's all an increase in enforcement. We speculate that it's a little
bit of all of the above," said Dale Woolery, associate director of the
Iowa Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy.

But McCullough thinks the improvements aren't keeping up with growth
in meth production.

"We're training more local law-enforcement officers to be certified to
enter meth labs. But I don't think that's the reason we're seeing an
increase" in busts, he said.

Beyond the focus on meth labs in Iowa is the problem of meth being
imported into the state. Woolery cites an estimate that up to 80
percent of the meth consumed in Iowa was made outside the state.

The growing meth problem will frame debate in the upcoming legislative
session about whether to restrict sales of the common household goods
used to produce the drug.
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MAP posted-by: Derek