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Cops get crash course on finding meth labs By DANI DODGE When it comes to meth labs, the best thing to do is to get the heck away and call the Jackson County Narcotics Enforcement Team. Officers there have puffy air-tight suits, oxygen masks and the duct tape to wrap around every seam to make sure none of the toxic chemicals will touch their bodies. "You don't want this stuff in your lungs," said Lt. Jim Anderson, JACNET's commander. "There's also a fear of fire and explosion." Nearly 50 people, some from as far away as Reedsport, attended each session. The problem of methamphetamine labs has exploded in Jackson County. In 1991, JACNET seized a quarter-pound of meth. In 2000, it was 26 pounds. In the same time, lab investigations increased from one to 14. Meth arrests are up from 81 to 1,829. "That's an epidemic," Anderson said. "Could you imagine if we had burglary or robbery with that kind of increase?" JACNET finds labs in bathrooms of nice homes, the kitchens of junky travel trailers, and even in clandestine shacks built into blackberry brambles on public land. Years ago, making meth was a complicated process that involved many chemicals and at least three days of work. Now drug dealers can make meth with common substances, many sold at convenience stores. And it can take as little as three hours. But the result - a toxic mess that costs police and property owners thousands of dollars to deal with and clean up - remains the same. At the training session, the participants learned to recognize methamphetamine labs, and to know when they stumble onto someone getting ready to make meth. "Before I had training, I'm sure I walked into places and didn't have any idea they were a lab," said Sgt. Matt Thomson of JACNET. Some of the signs include gallons of 7 percent iodine, excessive amounts of cold tablets, camera batteries and matchboxes. "If they have more than three boxes of cold tablets, they are probably buying it for a lab," Thomson said. Thomson said JACNET works with stores tracking the sale of chemicals and ingredients used in making meth. Some stores even require identification from people buying chemicals that are used to make meth. "But it doesn't matter," Anderson said. "They need it for crank and so they continue to buy it." Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.