Key is stemming ingredient flow

State drug enforcers are facing new threat: Different meth form on rise, officials say

With the enormous decline in clandestine methamphetamine labs in the state during the past few years, police have seen a significant increase in crystal meth.

Local and state law enforcement agents say almost all of the meth seized now is a crystallized, smokeable form of the drug that is produced in ‘‘superlabs’’ in Mexico and smuggled across the border.

For years, Oklahoma law enforcers fought what seemed to be a losing war against clandestine meth labs—homemade laboratories concealed in houses, apartments, sheds and even vehicles by meth cooks who used hazardous chemicals to create a powder form of the drug. Between the mid-1990s and 2003, the number of labs found by law enforcement rose dramatically.

But in April 2004, the state enacted a law greatly limiting the sale of one of the primary meth ingredients — pseudoephedrine, a common over-thecounter decongestant.

Since then, the number of labs seized has dropped to only a fraction of what it once was, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control records show.

But the addiction many people had for the drug did not go away when the clandestine labs and availability of homemade meth began to decline, said Sgt. Sean Larkin of the Tulsa Police Department’s Narcotics Unit.

‘‘Although there’s a reduction in meth labs, the demand is still there,’’ Larkin said. ‘‘That (crystal meth) is predominantly all we see now.’’

The increase in crystal meth, also known as “ice,” is not unique to Tulsa, said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.

‘‘About 100 percent of the meth we’re getting is all ice; it’s all crystal meth,’’ Woodward said. ‘‘We rarely get any powder anymore. (Now) 95 percent of the meth consumed in Oklahoma is from Mexico.’’

Crystal meth has been around for years, but in what once was a buyer’s market in Oklahoma, it was rarely seen, he said. Most people who used meth got it from local dealers.

However, when Oklahoma’s 2004 law virtually ground clandestine labs to a halt and the source of powder meth began to dry up, crystal meth began to appear regularly in the state, Woodward said.

Drug running: Crystal meth is produced predominantly in large labs run by drug cartels in Mexico, he said. These “superlabs” are capable of operating 24 hours a day and producing hundreds of pounds of meth each day, Woodward said.

The drug is then smuggled across the border by “runners” — people who are paid small amounts of money to bring it into the United States, Woodward said.

Often, cartels will load several cars with the drug and attempt to bring it into the United States at multiple points along the southern border, he said.

These tactics, which also are used to smuggle heroin, cocaine, marijuana and other drugs, increase the odds that some of the drug will get through, he said.

Once in the country, the runners take the drugs to cartel lieutenants; from there, it is distributed throughout the country, and arrangements are made to send money back to the cartel’s base in Mexico, he said.

A high cost: Police are also noticing more identity-theft crimes, burglaries and copper theft, Woodward said, partially because meth addicts must pay more for the drug and are stealing to get the money.

Previously, ‘‘They could almost make a batch for free,’’ Woodward said. ‘‘Now they’re forced to buy it.” In the past few weeks, Larkin said, Tulsa police have made several seizures of crystal meth. Some investigations have led to multiplepound seizures worth between $11,000 and $12,000 per pound.

Before Oklahoma’s antimeth law, officers rarely saw such large quantities in one bust, he said.

‘‘We rarely dealt with pounds (of meth) back then,’’ Larkin said.

A changed emphasis: If Oklahoma’s 2004 anti-meth law gave Mexican drug cartels an opportunity to expand their businesses, it also gave law enforcers the opportunity to counter it.

Because law enforcement officers are working so few meth labs in the state, they now have the time and resources to work on complex, lengthy investigations to try to combat the flow of drugs into the state, Larkin said.

‘‘(There are more resources for) large cases in general, whether cocaine, meth or ice, because we’re not tied up with labs and paperwork on them for hours, days,’’ Larkin said.

In April, after a year-long investigation, the state narcotics bureau made a large bust on a distribution network in Pittsburg, Hughes and Atoka counties as well as in Dallas. A total of 34 arrest warrants were issued, and meth, 5,000 pseudoephedrine tablets and 50 firearms were seized during the bust.

The people involved in the operation would arrange for meth from Mexico to be trafficked into the state and distributed in several communities, Woodward said.

It was not uncommon for the group to distribute between 2 and 10 pounds of meth per week, he said.

Woodward said many local law enforcement agencies in the state are also looking to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control for guidance in dealing with the larger cases that involve drug smuggling, rather than asking for help with meth labs.

‘‘Prior to the law, these same departments were working two to three (labs) a day,’’ Woodward said.

The bureau is also working with American Indian tribal governments and law enforcement agencies in the state, Woodward said, as many cartels and dealers have begun going onto tribal land, such as casinos, to make drug transactions.

The bureau has made a cross-jurisdictional agreement with the Chickasaw tribe and is working on similar agreements with other tribes, Woodward said.

‘‘It (tribal land) shouldn’t be looked at as a safe haven for drug dealing anymore because of this cross-deputization,’’ Woodward said. ‘‘It’s a great partnership that I can only see growing very popular very soon.’’

Clifton Adcock 581-8367
clifton.adcock@tulsaworld.com

Crystal meth seized at Mexican border

2003 – 260 pounds

2004 – 1,034 pounds

2005 – 1,423 pounds