UNFRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD METH LABS SMALL-TIME OPERATIONS RISING THREAT.

Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer

Methamphetamine - once the drug of choice for outlaw motorcycle gangs who cooked it in large batches in out-of-the-way places - has moved downtown with ``mom-and-pop'' drug labs springing up across Los Angeles, police say.

Recent meth busts in the Santa Clarita Valley and in Van Nuys last week highlighted the ease with which users can start their own labs and manufacture the drug in small doses.

``The chemical formula has become sort of simple even for people not that aware of chemistry,'' said Robert Schirn, the head of Major Narcotics Division of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. ``Some of the materials are not that difficult to get.''

Meth, considered ``blue-collar cocaine,'' was the domain of motorcycle gangs in the 1970s, cooked up in rural areas where investigators and others couldn't get wind of the toxic fumes. The areas also protected cooks from blowing their cover if the volatile mix exploded.

But new recipes, often downloaded from the Internet and made with items you can buy at a drugstore, are less volatile and don't smell as much, meaning the makers can use relatively small spaces to make the drug.

``We're finding smaller labs in residential areas, light industrial areas, storage lots, trailers, motels, hotel rooms - things where you can bring all your equipment and fit it in one small room,'' said Greg Smith, the assistant director of Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force.

The drug now has an audience with young, urban residents, police say.

``Methamphetamine is popular now, and gaining in popularity because it's more readily available. It's cheaper than (cocaine),'' said Shirley Lessiak, a special agent with the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement. ``The high lasts longer, and it's very addictive.

``It's gone beyond just the motorcycle gangs. It's an epidemic. It appears to be everywhere.''

Los Angeles County is second in the state, behind Riverside, for the number of labs seized, with 310 in 1999, the last year statewide stats are available.

In the city of Los Angeles, police seized 53 labs in 2000, up from 25 in 1999, according to the latest department records. Los Angeles authorities seized 12 labs in the first three months of this year. About 60 percent of L.A.'s calls for of the clandestine lab unit's call-outs are to the San Fernando Valley.

California is the nation's leader in methamphetamine production, with more than six times the number of labs seized of any other state. The majority of labs seized in California were located in Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange and San Bernardino counties, police said.

Despite the increase in the numbers of labs, police are not confiscating as much of the drug as they used to, partly because the labs are smaller.

In 2000, 533 pounds of the drug was seized by Los Angeles police, compared with 1,012 pounds in 1999. So far this year, police have seized 33 pounds of meth.

The L.A. Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force, which investigates large-scale drug trafficking in the Sheriff's Department's jurisdictions, and assists smaller police departments, seized 57 labs in 2000, compared to 62 in 1999.

In Val Verde, an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County about five miles northwest of the city of Santa Clarita, state agents seized about 18 pounds of methamphetamine, 50 gallons of chemicals, and guns Thursday during a search of a ``super lab'' being run in the hills.

Super labs, those able to produce 15 to 20 pounds, account for 40 percent to 45 percent of the meth produced in the United States, according to Los Angeles Police Department authorities.

But finding them is tough, authorities said. They are usually in rural areas, in canyons, far away from paved roads. They commonly have guard dogs. They could have lookouts, and meth makers are usually very evasive from law enforcement.

``We don't find super labs every week,'' Lessiak said. ``A majority of our seizures are mom-and-pop operations.''

Los Angeles police raided what they believe to be a mom-and-pop lab inside a three-bedroom home in the 6600 block of Fulton Avenue in Van Nuys on Thursday, police said.

Detectives, conducting a stolen property investigation, uncovered the suspected methamphetamine lab and arrested a couple. They also confiscated suspected meth-making paraphernalia and chemicals.

The toxic chemicals involved in making the meth are extremely dangerous and they can explode. In 1999, 20 Los Angeles police and fire fighters were injured responding to meth lab explosions and fires.

``This stuff,'' said Schirn, the L.A. prosecutor, ``is in our own back yard.''

Staff Writer Kathy Sweeney contributed to this report.

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Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Narcotics investigators wear protective gear, above, while handling hazardous chemicals, as well as guns, top, seized from a suspected methamphetamine lab in Val Verde. Producing the drug can be a toxic and potentially explosive process.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer