Cutting Off A Source

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s sweeping pseudoephedrine crackdown in late July could have a ripple effect in the Inland Northwest.

“My guess is half the methamphetamine is brought into the area and half is made at home,” said Lt. Chan Bailey, a narcotics investigator with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

In time, meth makers might have more problems finding one of the key chemicals needed to cook the drug, said Mark Thomas, the DEA’s Spokane resident agent in charge.

None of the pseudoephedrine distributors or meth dealers targeted in the DEA’s raid, which netted 140 arrests, were based in the Inland Northwest.

DEA investigators in Seattle and Portland did take part in the crackdown, called Operation Mountain Express.

Meth continues to be a thorn for local law enforcement, requiring more of officers’ time and new policing efforts.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and the regional drug task force have already raided 36 meth labs in 2000. According to the state Department of Ecology, 36 meth labs were discovered in all of Spokane County during 1999.

City police and county deputies now have 11 officers trained in processing hazardous meth labs for evidence.