Illegal drug labs growing
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
The number of illegal drug labs used to make methamphetamine in Hawai'i is growing and more are on the way, experts warned residents Tuesday night at a meeting at Kapalama Elementary School.
Missouri police Sgt. Jim Wingo said clandestine drug laboratories are easy to set up, the raw materials are cheap and readily available and the drug is so addictive that users will never voluntarily quit.
"It's only going to get worse from here," said Wingo, speaking to a group of about 30 residents and police officers.
To demonstrate how fast the problem is growing, Wingo said officers in Missouri shut down six labs in 1992 and more than 2,000 last year.
"Three to five labs a day in Kansas City are taken down," Wingo said. "There is no answer. I've become satisfied with small victories — taking children out of drug houses, shutting down labs and arresting people."
The Hawai'i meetings on clandestine drug laboratories are being sponsored by the Attorney General's Crime Prevention & Justice Assistance Division and have also been held on Maui, the Big Island and Kaua'i.
Police said the first home drug lab in Hawai'i was found at the Crosspointe townhouse near Aloha Stadium in 1996 after a dish atop a stove burst into flame, setting the home on fire.
Dean Yamamoto of the police crime lab said officers are now finding 10 to 20 labs a year.
Crystal methamphetamine has a street value of about $3,000 an ounce, police said. And Wingo passed out examples of the materials commonly used to manufacture methamphetamine: cold pills, batteries and ammonia.
Residents at the meeting, who did not want their names used for fear of retaliation by drug dealers, said they know where drugs are being made in their neighborhoods, because of the telltale chemical odors and heavy vehicular traffic. Some said they live in fear of drug dealers and wanted to know what they could do.
Wingo said residents should not try to approach suspected drug users on their own because they are often paranoid and violent. Call police, Wingo advised.
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
