Pubdate: Tue, 6 Apr, 1999 Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Copyright: 1999 San Francisco Chronicle Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Forum: http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/ Author: Bill Wallace, Chronicle Staff Writer METH USE IS ON THE RISE -- AGAIN Recent Arrests Highlight Growing Problem In the wake of last week's arrest of 18 East Bay men on charges of manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine, authorities say the drug is a growing law enforcement problem that has defied tougher laws and a two-year state and federal war designed to combat it. Despite last week's arrests, top prosecutors warn that the battle against the potent stimulant -- known to street users as "meth," "crank" and "speed" - -- is far from over. "It (methamphetamine) is growing -- it is growing very quickly," said Robert Mueller, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, which covers coastal California from Monterey to Oregon. "I think we are with methamphetamine today about where we were 10 to 15 years ago with crack cocaine," Mueller said. National figures bear him out: The National Institute on Drug Abuse says the number of methamphetamine-abuse emergencies increased by 237 percent from 1990 to 1994, dropped briefly in 1995 and began climbing again in 1996. In 1997, according to the federal Drug Awareness Warning Network, there were 8,400 emergency room visits because of methamphetamine abuse -- a 100 percent increase from the preceding year. The magnitude of the problem was demonstrated during last week's raids after the indictment of 22 people in Contra Costa and Solano counties by a federal grand jury in Oakland. Investigators seized 129 pounds of methamphetamine and the chemicals used to make it. However, the mass arrests were hardly the first Bay Area skirmish against methamphetamine dealers in recent weeks: - -- On March 16, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested a San Francisco man, Marco Zamora, as he allegedly tried to sell more than a pound of methamphetamine in a McDonald's restaurant parking lot on Van Ness Avenue. He was subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury on trafficking charges. - -- On March 11, Joel Garcia, Miguel Angel Lopez and German Vasquez Palormares, all of Santa Rosa, were arrested by federal narcotics agents as they allegedly tried to sell 10 pounds of methamphetamine for $44,000. According to federal court documents, the Santa Rosa-based operation had a sales territory that stretched as far south as Oakland. - -- On February 26, Jerry Reynoso, whose address is unknown, was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Francisco on charges of possessing more than a pound of methamphetamine with intent to sell. In addition, members of a Redwood City-based cocaine-trafficking ring who were indicted by a federal grand jury last month also are suspected of dealing in large quantities of methamphetamine. A Chronicle review of federal court records shows that nine people have been charged with methamphetamine trafficking in the San Francisco federal court district so far this year -- and that does not include the cases filed in the district's Oakland or San Jose offices. Three of those cases involve alleged drug networks that stretched as far as Colorado, Virginia and North Dakota. The volume of meth cases seems to be increasing -- as does the number of methamphetamine "kitchens" being seized by police. According to Mike Van Winkle, a spokesman for the state Department of Justice, in 1996, the state's 400- plus narcotics agents seized 835 speed laboratories, about 60 of which were in the Bay Area. A year later, they seized 946 labs, 100 of which were in the Bay Area. Last year, they shut 1,006 labs, but no breakdown of their locations was available yet. The state's figures do not begin to tell the full story, however: While most California jurisdictions turn to the Department of Justice for lab seizures, narcotics task forces in Riverside and San Bernardino counties conduct their own clandestine-lab operations. They closed an additional 500 labs last year, Van Winkle said. If the number of labs being busted is large, the amount of drugs being seized is staggering. Last year, the state seized 6.5 tons of processed methamphetamine and an even larger quantity of the precursor chemicals used to make speed, Van Winkle said. "We used to get more drugs than chemicals," he said. "Now we are seeing just the opposite. . . . We are seizing a lot of meth that is still in solution - -- it isn't meth yet, and doesn't even count." Van Winkle said methamphetamine sales and use skyrocketed in the mid-1990s and has not really tapered off since. "Five years ago, we used to say we were fighting four drugs: marijuana, LSD, cocaine and methamphetamine," Van Winkle said. "Now we devote about 75 percent of our resources to methamphetamine, all by itself." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D