February 2, 2007 - Madison Courier (IN) New Law Cuts Into Number Of Meth Labs By Dave Frank, Courier Staff Writer

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Police say a new law regulating cold and allergy medicine caused the number of methamphetamine labs to drop in 2006 but also acknowledged, along with activists and the federal government, that such laws have little effect on the drug's supply.

Indiana State Police have said the 2005 state law made it more difficult to manufacture methamphetamine in Indiana. In 2006, they and local law enforcement dismantled 933 labs, compared with 1,303 in 2005.

In Jefferson County, the number dropped from 11 to 7.

Lt. Lori Petro, commander of a special methamphetamine unit for the state police, said the law worked to reduce the number of labs because it made buying products with ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, sometimes used to make methamphetamine, more difficult to get. For people buying medicine with those ingredients, the law requires they show identification, sign an Indiana State Police log and not buy more than 100 tablets a week. Also, stores have to keep the medicine locked away or kept in front of a pharmacy counter that has surveillance video.

But the demand for the methamphetamine remains.

"It's just economics," Petro said. "You have bad guys who say, 'Hmm, here's my chance to bring more drugs in.'"

Offset By Imports

Indiana State Trooper Chip Ayers, part of the special meth unit, said the law has been "a big step toward helping the problem," but, in response, sales from out of state will increase, probably coming from the western U.S. states and Mexico.

Petro agreed.

"A lot of police are like, 'Clandestine labs are bad and everything, but let's focus on methamphetamine coming from out of state,'" she said.

In a 2006 drug threat assessment by one of its divisions, the U.S. Department of Justice reported:

"Decreases in domestic production have resulted in a significant increase in the control that Mexican (cartels) and criminal groups exert over domestic methamphetamine markets," the report by the National Drug Intelligence Center said.

The reason, the Justice Department division said, was that "individual users who previously relied on supplies produced in small-scale domestic laboratories are increasingly forced to purchase the drug from Mexican methamphetamine distributors."

This has not cut down on the domestic availability of the drug.

"These reductions have been offset by methamphetamine produced by Mexican (cartels) at laboratories in Mexico and transported to domestic markets via the U.S.-Mexico border," the report said.

The domestic decreases in meth labs were due, in part, to laws like the one in Indiana. But this won't change the overall availability of the drug, the report said, and, in fact, might create a greater supply.

"Methamphetamine availability will most likely increase in the near term, particularly in eastern states. ... Moreover, intelligence reports indicate that Mexican (cartels) most likely will be able to offset any further declines in domestic methamphetamine production by increasing production levels at laboratories in Mexico, which have not yet reached full capacity."

Lab Dangers

Labs used to make meth in this country are extremely dangerous, police say, and are a hazard to people and property around them.

"These labs are very volatile and the gases and fumes given off, as well as the explosive potential create a substantial risk to anyone nearby," a state police report said.

Of the 1,303 labs seized in 2005, police reported 14 injuries and three deaths. Of the 933 labs seized in 2006, police reported nine injuries and three deaths.

Petro said people involved in meth production might get away sometimes and not have their injuries reported.

In 2005, a division of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department released a study of 15 to 16 states, not including Indiana, from 2000 through 2004. Of the 1,171 meth lab incidents, 104 people were burned, 68 were treated at a hospital and nine died.

Petro said 15 to 20 percent of labs have some kind of fire, but as far as large explosions "it's not really common, honestly."

Steve Mojonnier, a senior environmental manager at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, agreed that explosions have "always been the minority." When they do happen, "that always makes the job easier," he said. Mojonnier is working on regulations to implement a 2005 state law that requires property owners to do a specified amount of cleaning after police leave a meth lab scene.

For 2006, state police reported no deaths or injuries related to a meth lab. They reported one injury in 2005.

Blowing Smoke?

Critics of Indiana's law restricting sales of cold medicines say it doesn't help the drug problem.

Laws like it, said Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance, have "done nothing to reduce the supply or availability of methamphetamine, meth abuse or the problems associated with meth abuse.

"So politicians are just blowing smoke," he said.

Piper, national affairs director for the New York City-based drug reform organization, said bigger manufactures might also cause an increase in violent crime as they expand their traffic routes.

"What it means is less and less is produced in the U.S. and more and more is introduced," said Cliff Thornton, president of Efficacy, a Connecticut-based drug reform organization.

"You can't stop it, it's impossible," he said. "The only way you're going to stop it is if you have police on every corner and everyone rat on everyone."

Piper said drug laws like this often have unintended consequences, eventually making the problem worse. Even now, the government hasn't "really dealt with the underlying issues" like treating people, he said.

A federal Drug Enforcement Agency fact sheet acknowledged changes in the current system are needed.

"Only by breaking that cycle of demand can we bring lasting change to the entire community. We must look to treatment and alternative sentencing procedures, like drug courts and restorative justice, for non-violent users," the DEA fact sheet says.

Ingredients used in meth labs are dangerous, Piper said, but the current push might not make things better overall.

"Over the last 40 years, policymakers have tried to stop meth by either arresting people caught with meth or regulating the ingredients necessary to make meth," he said, adding: "But the problems associated with meth abuse and the meth trade have gotten worse, not better."

The demand is too high, Thornton said, and "it's going to get through."

Copyright 2007, The Madison Courier

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