METH LAB BUSTS ARE DOWN BY 40% IN STATE RESTRICTIONS ON INGREDIENTS ARE WORKING, AUTHORITIES SAY.

Byline: SUSAN ABRAM Staff Writer

Seizures of methamphetamine labs across California declined by nearly 40 percent last year, in part due to laws restricting the sale of over-the- counter cold medicines used to make the drug, government officials said Monday.

The continued decline in California mirrored trends nationwide, which saw a 30 percent decline in seizures from 2004 to 2005. Nationally, police seized 12,100 labs in 2005, compared with 17,500 in 2004, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The federal government hopes a sweeping law that would require drugs containing pseudoephedrine -- the main ingredient in meth -- to be sold from behind the pharmacy counter will further reduce the meth supply in the United States. Though California already has such laws in place, the nationwide mandate will begin Sept. 30.

``Communities once paralyzed by the threat of this dangerous drug are emerging healthier and safer because we have reduced the diversion of precursor chemicals and the number of meth labs,'' John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in a statement.

Local law enforcement agencies attribute the drops to stepped-up enforcement, as well as pharmacies that restrict the sale of medicines such as Sudafed, which contains pseudoephedrine.

Officials at Pfizer Inc., the makers of Sudafed, said the company is in favor of those policies though initially it was not convinced that selling the product from behind the counter was the best solution. Still, the company admits that progress is being made on the war on meth because of the changes.

Pfizer now is focused on Mexico, where superlabs have continued to grow.

``We're restricted in the amount of pseudoephedrine that we can buy from Mexico, and we support that,'' said Erica Johnson, spokeswoman Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. ``We're trying to work alongside the government to provide solutions.''

But various agencies in Los Angeles County still see meth use as a significant problem.

Researchers for Phoenix House, a national group of rehabilitation facilities, found that from 1997 to 2002, the number of teens placed into drug treatment centers in Los Angeles County rose from 1,609 to 5,572. The increase is attributed to meth use.

And the federal Drug Enforcement Administration cautions that while lab seizures have declined, arrests and use have remained steady, said Sarah Pullen, Los Angeles spokeswoman for the DEA.

``The large meth labs, or superlabs, have gone across the border, but Los Angeles is a distribution point for the rest of the country,'' said Capt. William Ryan, for the Los Angeles County Narcotics Bureau. ``The demand is still out there.''

The Antelope Valley, once a haven for superlabs, saw less than a dozen lab seizures last year, Ryan said.

Meth, also known as crank or tweak, sells for $5,000 to $6,500 per pound. But ice, a purer form of meth, sells for $8,000 to $11,000 a pound, Ryan said.

``It's still a high priority for us,'' Ryan said. ``We still see a lot of it.''

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Meth labs closing

SOURCE: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration