By JIMMY LAWTON and ANDY GARDNER

CANTON – Concern among local police is growing along with an apparent increase in the presence of the drug methamphetamine in St. Lawrence County.

With several methamphetamine related busts in recent headlines, Canton Police Chief Lori McDougal says is a growing concern for the village and the county.

“I do think we are seeing an increase of use. It’s a concern because it’s fairly easy to make, and they can make it anywhere,” she said.

For a village that houses two colleges, that concern becomes amplified. McDougal says the one-pot method used to make meth has become popular. She said the products used to make it are easily obtained and easily concealed. She said the pots, often a two-liter bottle full of caustic chemicals, can be carried in backpacks.

“The chances of explosion are pretty high. I think it’s inevitable that someone will get hurt,” she said.

McDougal said it’s hard for police officers to locate the drug because they can’t search people without good reason, nor do they want to.

“It makes things difficult for sure,” she said.

McDougal said the problem isn’t new, even if the drug has changed. Last year headlines were full of a popular drug commonly known as bath salts that were also hard to track.

“It seems like if it’s not one thing, it’s another. It’s usually something cheap, easy to make or readily available,” she said.

McDougal said St. Lawrence County’s Drug Task force is aware of the problem and is working diligently to reduce the prominence of one-pot meth labs. McDougal believes more collaboration with drug stores, where the ingredients to manufacture meth are often purchased, will become a major tool in the battle. She said as more busts are made, the police may find more leads and deter people from making the drugs.

“Fortunately for us. There is not a lot of honor among meth users,” she said.

While McDougal is concerned about the drugs prominence in Canton, St. Lawrence County Sheriff Kevin Wells says his department is seeing a major rise in meth-related busts. He says cleanups of methamphetamine production sites are on track to surpass last year’s figures.

“We’re at eight this year,” he said Feb. 17, six weeks into the new year, noting there were 20 in all of 2014. “That’s the pace we’re looking at that’s alarming us.”

Wells says the recent uptick in meth arrests across St. Lawrence County is due to an increase in the drug’s presence, not police finding more of what was already here.

“It’s definitely an increase,” he said. “This section of the North Country, right now, are leaders in the state” for meth busts.

He says it came to St. Lawrence County, and other northern New York communities, because people are going around and teaching the so-called “one-pot” cooking method.

“There’s been some people that are teaching people how to cook it,” Wells said.

He says the method’s simplicity, which only requires a container such as a soda bottle and the ingredients, contributes to its reach.

“You don’t need a lab … you can do it in your car … this is just a one-pot method,” Wells said, noting that many of those accused of selling the drug are also users. He says this isn’t necessarily true of other people who use and sell other controlled substances.

“The majority of people involved in the meth trade are users of the product,” Wells said.

Police departments throughout the North Country are putting their heads together and sharing information about meth-makers and dealers, according to the county sheriff.

“There’s intel being shared between us, with Jefferson County,” Wells said. “We … continue to work with the state police. They’re good working partners.”

Busting and cleaning up places where meth was made is taxing both state and local law enforcement budgets, Wells said. There are a number of volatile and dangerous chemicals that make up the drug which give off noxious gas, can burn people and potentially catch fire.

“There’s special training and ways you have to be dressed. That’s why you see those moon suits. It’s nothing that can be done quickly,” according to Wells.

He said New York State Police have to spend extra time and money to dispatch their Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team and local police agencies usually have to spend overtime money to remain on-scene throughout the process.

“It’s not just our resources. We utilize state police resources as well,” Wells said. “It always turns into an overtime issue.”

In addition to taxing law enforcement budgets, meth takes an effect on the child welfare and healthcare systems.

“A lot of times we find kids in these houses,” he said. “And it’s burdening our healthcare system.”

He said frequent users need treatment for ailments caused by their drug use.

In response to all of this, he and other top police officials are pushing state representatives to pass new meth-fighting legislation.

He said he didn’t want to talk specifics, but did acknowledge that there was a “package” being proposed.

“We’re bringing it to the attention of state legislative representatives,” Wells said. “We’ve got a problem and it’s going to take resources to make this problem go away.”