Pubdate: Sun, 30 Apr 2006
Source: Ledger, The (FL)
Copyright: 2006 The Ledger
Contact:  http://www.theledger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/795
Author: Dana Willhoit, The Ledger
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

POLK KICKS METH MECCA REPUTATION

Receding Arrest Rates Reflect No Laboratory Busts So Far This Year

LAKELAND -- Once upon a time, Polk County held the dubious, if 
unofficial, title of Meth Capital of Florida.

That seems to be changing.

In 2002, 17 methamphetamine labs were busted by the Polk County 
Sheriff's Office.

In 2003, 13 labs were busted. In 2004 and 2005, six labs were busted, 
but so far in 2006, while individual users have been arrested for 
possession, the Sheriff's Office has yet to find a single laboratory. 
The federal Drug Enforcement Agency has shut down one.

By comparison, the DEA has shut 18 in Brevard County, an east coast 
county with population comparable to Polk.

"It's a pleasure to be able to say now, I don't think that Polk 
County is the meth capital of Florida any more," said David Waller, 
special agent supervisor with the Florida Department of Law 
Enforcement, which often works with the Sheriff's Office in drug 
investigations.

However, the fact that there's less methamphetamine being 
manufactured here doesn't necessarily mean that there's less meth use 
in Polk County, law enforcement agents and drug treatment volunteers say.

Investigators have said in the past that as much as 90 percent of 
methamphetamine used in Polk County is smuggled in rather than made 
locally. But recent arrest and seizure trends point to an across- 
theboard slowdown in the meth trade.

In 2005, there were 205 methamphetamine-possession arrests, and 75 
more serious trafficking arrests. So far in 2006, there have been 53 
possession arrests and seven trafficking arrests.

It's a trend that's being seen around the country.

"Official Sees Drop In Local Meth Labs," read a headline this week in 
the Hudson Star Observer in Hudson, Wis. "Meth Labs Decrease 
Statewide," declared The Mountain Times, a North Carolina newspaper.

"Sheriff Reports Drop in Seizures of Meth Labs," announced the 
Greenville Sun of Tennessee.

There are several factors behind the disappearing meth lab 
phenomenon, authorities say.

A law that took effect in Florida on July 1 limited the amount of 
pseudophedrine that could be sold in drug stores. The overthe-counter 
cold medicine is one of the key ingredients in methamphetamine.

Similar laws have been passed in many states.

"Up until recently, individuals would just walk into drug stores and 
buy all the pseudoephedrine they needed," FDLE agent Waller said. 
"Now they can't go in and buy more than three packs."

Instead of making their own, addicts and dealers are buying from 
Mexican drug gangs, he said.

Mexico has not passed any laws regulating the sale of 
pseudoephedrine, so drug gangs there buy it in mass quantities, 
produce methamphetamine in bulk and smuggle it across the border. 
What drug agents are seeing a lot more of is a particularly pure form 
of methamphetamine, called ice, Waller said.

Another factor in the successful elimination of local meth labs is an 
increased police focus on the issue, according to Polk County Sheriff 
Grady Judd.

"We've got two different federal grants, and also, we're working as a 
team with local police departments, state and federal law 
enforcement, focusing on the problem of the production and sale of 
methamphetamine."

But not all is good news.

As meth arrests and seizures decline, the Sheriff's Office has seen a 
corresponding rise in cocaine arrests and seizures, according to 
agency statistics.

 From 2000-2002, there were 453.1 pounds of methamphetamine and 43.5 
pounds of cocaine seized by the Sheriff's Office. From 2003-2005, 
there were 277 pounds of methamphetamine seized and 128.5 pounds of 
cocaine seized.

That represents a 39 percent decrease in methamphetamine seizures and 
a 195 percent increase in cocaine seizures.

"There's a market for drugs in every community. When the supply of 
one type of drug dries up, another one comes along," Judd said.

And volunteers who work with drug addicts are far from declaring 
victory over methamphetamine.

Libbie Combee, head of Polk County Mothers Against Methamphetamine 
Abuse, said that she has heard that methamphetamine is harder to get 
at the moment, but addiction is still as strong as ever.

"There's been a dry spell, but that's not uncommon. During that dry 
spell, you'll see an increase in cocaine and other drugs, because 
they'll pretty much use whatever's out there," Combee said. "But I 
still very much deal with addicts every single week. There's still 
plenty of meth out there and plenty of meth addicts."

The labs though, she agrees, seem to have been driven out of the 
county. "I think the labs are totally gone."
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