Pubdate: Sun, 11 Nov 2007 Source: News-Enterprise, The (KY) Copyright: 2007 News-Enterprise Contact: http://www.newsenterpriseonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1663 Author: Bob White, STATUS REPORT: MEASURING THE MATURING METH WAR Legislation Makes Large Dent In Production; Focus Turns To Interdiction ELIZABETHTOWN -- The warfront against the illegal stimulant methamphetamine is changing as less of the drug is being produced in small local labs and more of it is being imported from Mexico to satisfy a steady demand for it. Despite efforts in recent years to educate the public about its dangers, federal, state and local drug experts say the meth-using population seems to be holding steady. While estimated numbers of users appear constant throughout the state, domestic production of the drug appears to be on the decline in most parts of the state, aside from Jefferson and Bullitt counties. Drug experts attribute the slow, steady drop in domestic production of meth to legislation passed in 2005 reducing the availability of pseudoephedrine -- a key ingredient of meth often found in cold and sinus medications. A new system, known as MethCheck, was implemented earlier this year to help drug enforcement agencies track suspected meth cooks by using pharmacy logs that track sales of pseudoephedrine. With an estimated drop in domestic production by as much as 40 percent and the hunger for meth holding steady, the the vacuum was filled by Mexican imports, said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Huber, federal prosecutor. Huber estimates 80 percent of meth being trafficked in Kentucky stems from what he calls Mexican "poly-drug" cartels n organized crime rings dealing in a variety of illegal substances. With the transition in suppliers from small-time Kentucky meth-cooks producing an ounce or 2 to Mexican drug cartels tied in with super-labs south of the border, may show that the 2005 anti-meth legislation opened a new door of crime, but experts say Kentuckians are safer from the dangers of meth now than they were a few years ago. ATTENTION TO METH Greater Hardin County Narcotics Task Force Director Wayne Edwards noted a recent case in which local drug task force agents found young children playing inside a home where the carpet was saturated with toxic byproducts of an active lab. "That's what brings attention to meth," Edwards said. Avoidance of those circumstances is what Huber said was the most positive result of the legislation limiting the availability of pseudoephedrine. Regarding organized crime, Cheyenne Albro, director of the Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force, said law enforcement would rather fight cartels trafficking meth into the state than have to bust hundreds of small meth labs across the state, each presenting a toxic danger. "We've been fighting organized crime for years," Albro said. "This is nothing new." While law enforcement officials continue to crack down on domestic production, focus on the war against meth is shifting to interdiction efforts. A newly formed drug enforcement effort known as SHIP -- Sheriff's Highway Interdiction Partnership --recently was launched in the 17-county Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force region. Another interdiction group is being formed to cover Kentucky counties along the Ohio River, Albro said. Interdiction groups are concentrating their efforts on stopping Mexican and West Coast imports of meth from being brought into Kentucky on highways and secondary roads. There has been some talk of increasing interdiction efforts along bridges crossing state lines, too. METH PRODUCTION STILL HIGH IN LOUISVILLE, BULLITT COUNTY While Mexican imports of meth and its purer form known as "ice or glass," are becoming more prevalent throughout the state, Louisville and Bullitt County, unlike the rest of the state, still are home to an alarming amount of domestic meth production. Huber said it's because the greater Louisville area somehow became a last stop on meth's west-to-east migration. Other drug experts agree. "What they're dealing with is what we dealt with years ago," Albro said. Albro said drug enforcement agents in western Kentucky first began buying meth in the 1980s and saw a boom in domestic production there beginning in 1998. Peaks in meth production in Bullitt, Jefferson and Hardin counties occurred between 2003 and 2005, according to experts in those areas. Although the number of meth labs found in Bullitt County peaked in 2003, local drug task force Director Kenny Hardin said his counter-drug agents still find an average of 20 labs a year inside Bullitt County. This year, the Bullitt County Drug Task Force has found and dismantled 18 labs. Hardin said meth by far is the most problematic substance being used and dealt in Bullit County. It is frustrating to see the problem remaining steady while knowing of the efforts made to educate people about meth's dangers, he said. "These people are just going to keep on doing it until we can bust them," Hardin said. All law enforcement there can do is continue the push against meth, he said. METH VS. COCAINE AND OTHER DRUGS, LOCALLY Meth is not as severe a problem in Hardin County and the rest of central Kentucky as it is in Bullitt or Jefferson counties, according to drug experts here. While 21 people have been indicted in Hardin County for meth-related crimes in 2007, fewer than half of those were charged with manufacturing the drug. The number pales in comparison to the number of people indicted for meth-production crimes in Bullitt and Jefferson counties. Edwards said meth is not the most problematic or prevalent drug in his three-county jurisdiction area of Nelson, Hardin and Grayson counties. Marijuana is the most prevalent drug in Hardin County by far, Edwards said, but cocaine and crack are the drugs he considers most problematic because of ties to organized crime in Detroit and Chicago. As with most other urban areas, Edwards said more crack and cocaine is found in Elizabethtown and Radcliff than is found in rural areas. In Grayson County, for instance, prescription painkillers such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, OxyContin and morphine are highly prevalent and highly problematic drugs, Edwards said. As in Hardin County, officials in Nelson County consider cocaine and crack the most problematic drugs. Albro said statistics made public regarding cocaine and crack have been skewed in recent years because of the emphasis placed on the fight against meth. Dropping some efforts to fight crack and cocaine in exchange for the push against meth was a necessary thing, he said. "In my 30 years of drug enforcement, meth is, without a doubt, the most sinister drug I've seen," he said. Because of toxic waste dealt with by cleanup crews and the threats posed to children by either abusive, meth-induced parents or dangerous living conditions related to meth labs and caustic ingredients, meth had to be dealt with immediately when it came on to the scene, Albro said. PROSECUTIONS Number of meth-related cases pursued by the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky-Louisville, which handles cases from Breckinridge, Bullitt, Hardin, Jefferson, LaRue, Marion, Meade, Nelson, Oldham, Spencer and Washington counties. YEAR No. 2007 22 2006 22 2005 33 2004 24 2003 11 A BRIEF HISTORY Meth use, production and trafficking crept across the Midwest over the course of a decade or so before reaching Kentucky in the 1980s. While it was present throughout the western half of the state in the early '90s, it took until the turn of the millennium before it became problematic enough for law enforcement, courts, legislators and the media to catch up to it and put up a fight. Since 2000, many prosecutors, law enforcement agencies and media outlets throughout the state have launched campaigns to educate the public about the dangers of meth use and production. While a vast amount of resources has been spent on deterrence, use of the drug remains steady, according to numerous drug task force agents and prosecutors throughout the state. In response to a noticeably growing meth epidemic which began in 2000, legislators initiated a law in 2005 that took pseudoephedrine, meth's key ingredient, off store shelves and placed it behind pharmacy counters. With that law, only two boxes can be purchased at a time and buyers must identify themselves. Like the media campaign, the law limiting the availability of meth did not make a dent in use and addiction, but it did make it harder for local producers of meth to make the drug. According to law enforcement agents throughout the state, domestic production is down. Now, Mexican cartels are bringing meth produced at large-scale meth labs south of the border into the U.S. and Kentucky to satisfy the need of those caught in the web of addiction. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart