Posted on 01/29/2005 10:32:26 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Imagine that, with $100 worth of supplies bought from neighborhood stores, dealers could easily cook up $1,000 worth of a drug so addictive that users quickly descend into a hell of violence, crime and neglect.
That frightening scenario is the reality of methamphetamine, a drug that is sweeping rural America, spawning crime, child abuse and toxic pollution and ripping apart communities.
"It is out of control. It is a huge problem all across the United States," said Mike Logsdon, unit chief of an intelligence arm of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that collects data on the problem.
The drug, also known as crank, crystal, speed and ice, can be snorted, injected, smoked or swallowed. Within minutes, the user experiences a rush of energy and sense of well-being that can last up to 12 hours. But when it wears off, it leaves a feeling of deep depression and paranoia which makes the user desperate for another dose.
The scourge has taken hold in the last five years, and rural areas are bearing the brunt of the problem. Experts say that is primarily because meth is easy and cheap to make. Ingredients include readily accessible rock salt, battery acid, anhydrous ammonia and cold medicines. Recipes can be downloaded from the Internet.
As well, wide-open spaces in the country and small towns offer plentiful places to hide the drug activity.
"It's the first drug in the history of the United States we can make, distribute, sell, take, all here in the Midwest," said Detective Jason Grellner, of the Franklin County Sheriff's Department in Missouri, who seized 120 meth labs last year.
"You can't grow a coca plantation or an opium plantation here to get your heroin or cocaine, and marijuana takes four or five months to grow a good plant. With methamphetamine you can go out and for a couple hundred dollars you can make your drugs that day," Grellner said.
SWIFT AND SERIOUS
The problem descended on rural America with shocking suddenness. Sheriff Randy Krukow of Clay County in western Iowa said that in 1999, he had detected not a single meth-producing laboratory. By 2001, his force had broken up 56 in a county with a population of only 18,000.
For the fiscal year ending September 2004, the Drug Enforcement Administration counted more than 16,800 methamphetamine-related seizures by law enforcement across the country, up from 15,300 in 2002.
"This is the most serious law enforcement problem we've ever faced in the history of our state because this substance is so addictive and so easy and cheap to make," said North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem.
"When we look at our prison population, 10 years ago nobody had even heard of it. Now 60 percent of our male inmates are users and we're building a brand new prison for female users," Stenehjem said.
Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal recently told a statewide conference on combating the drug: "It doesn't matter where we go in the state, methamphetamine is there. The whole issue is eating us alive."
According to the Drug Trends Analysis Unit, an office in the Department of Justice, the highest numbers of meth labs are found in California, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri, all important farming states.
Clandestine labs were discovered in abandoned farms, in fields and ditches, vehicles, barns and even in 309 cases in hotel rooms. In one 2002 incident in North Dakota, an explosion set off a fire which destroyed the entire hotel.
In thousands of cases, people have been caught cooking the highly toxic chemicals in homes where children were present, breathing the poisonous fumes.
'SUPER LABS'
But these small mobile labs only scratch the surface of the problem. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, 80 percent of the methamphetamine sold in the United States is produced in so-called 'super labs' in Mexico or California run by organized crime syndicates which cook up vast quantities.
"The wholesale abuse of the drug is serious enough. But when we factor is the toxic environmental effects from unregulated chemicals used in clandestine laboratories, we see that methamphetamine is taking a terrible toll. No community is immune," Joseph Rannazzisi, deputy chief of enforcement for the DEA told a congressional committee in November.
Each pound of methamphetamines produced yields another five to six pounds of toxic waste. Cleanup after labs are discovered can cost thousands of dollars apiece and can endanger the lives of police officers who lack the expertise required.
In an effort to stem meth production, at least 20 states are now trying to limit the amount of cold medicines and decongestants they will sell to individuals to two packets at any one time. Some states are requiring stores to take them off the shelves entirely.
In future, shoppers will have to ask a pharmacist for them directly. The measures are being vigorously opposed by the pharmaceutical industry.
Faced with a growing number of addicts, few rural communities have treatment facilities or funds to create them.
The National Institute of Drug Abuse is funding clinical trials in five U.S. cities in California, Hawaii and Missouri, hoping to find chemical and behavioral therapies to free users from their addictions.
Meth's economic costs can be significant as well. A study issued last month by the Sam Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas studied methamphetamine use in Benton County, the home of retailing giant Walmart Stores Inc. The survey found that lost productivity and absenteeism because of methamphetamine addiction was costing employers there more than $21 million a year.
I live in SW Oklahoma and within a 25 mile radius of where Oklahoma State Trooper Nik Green was killed. Officer Green was shot when he was called to help out what appeared to be a stranded motorist but was instead an ex-firefighter from Duncan who was operating a rolling meth lab out of his car. The law that was passed here in Oklahoma was in honor of Officer Green.
When I moved here 3+ years ago, I met our local police chief and his wife. Since I had never lived in a small town before, I asked him what the most serious crime problem here was. Without hesitation he said it was meth and its production. This was prior to the passing of the Nik Green law.
The law has made a drastic difference here in SW Ok. It has also helped that Texas has recently passed their own form of law in regard to the purchase of medications that contain psuedoephedrine. For a short time our meth-heads used to drive across the border to Texas in order to acquire enough to make it worthwhile.
Our local paper publishes a weekly police blotter of misdemeanors and felonies that have been filed. Since the law passed the number of both types of crime has fallen by at least half if not more. It wasn't unusual to see 20 or more felony charges in one week for meth. In this week's paper there was one and this is no longer unusual.
I don't believe the law is the silver bullet that will knock out all of the meth problem here but I do believe it's a step in the right direction.
Its a landlord's nightmare, too. Once a property has been used as a meth lab, the landlord will have to foot the bill for the cleanup as a renting meth head will not have anything of value. Then, after the property is all cleaned up, you'll still have to disclose the hazardous chemical history of the place. Good luck selling. Screen those tenants!
"Still though I know plenty of people who have done meth, myself included, and it is not instantly addictive.
"
I never fell into the "try it(drugs) you'll like it" category through out my life. Lucky(smart) me I guess. I could never rationalize taking weird stuff and digesting it without knowing what the ingredients were yet people who abuse drugs not knowing the true ingedientsin the street drugs gripe about sanitary issues in restaurants and grocery store products. Now that's jacked up logic. Street drugs too much like playing with a gun with one bullet in the chamber.
Agreed. It's the same with alcohol. I can come home from work, drink 2 beers or drinks and stop. I know people that can't.
When the discussion turns to weed (or any plant), I'll stand with you.
But I think white powder drugs need to remain illegal.
OK, fine, I'll jump on board the (actually quite tiny) legalization bandwagon IF the legalization bill also sets up a huge tax on dope to fund all the treatment centers and programs. A floating tax, that increases or decreases each year based on the costs of the treatment programs.
All ya'll dopers can scream to high heaven, but that's the tradeoff necessary to gain our support for legalization. Sooner or later we all pay a huge cost for your doping addictions, so the costs are going to be shifted back on ya'll.
Meth is a huge problem here in Alaska as well. Our stores have put sudafed behind the counter and they watch people who buy the stuff pretty closely. I felt like a criminal one day asking for a box of sudafed for a killer sinus headache. I probababy will just put up with it next time. Hope it has the same effect on meth labs here as it did in OK. I have a problem also with snowmachine drivers trespassing across my property from a less than desireable part of town. I was told by the troopers there was a meth lab down there and they run there product at night. I would like to confront them but here in Alaska everyone is armed to the teeth (including me) and I figure it just ain't worth getting shot.
Not to mention the drug induced psychosis.
Done and done: All you have to do is go to the doc and tell him you can't pay attention to yo work, and you will be on HMO-paid, or government paid, speed in a jiffy.
Oh yeah! My secretary's brother is hooked on meth, and is in and out of jail . She has a restraining order against him.
Reminds me of a speech by a clean Junkie.
"Kids, Do Coke, Do Heroin but don't do speed, i thought the McDonalds was attacking me(the actual building itsef")
I feel the same way. I'm generally very tolerant of other's drug habits, until they have a serious impact on others. Someone smoking a little pot, or tripping with the aid of a sober overseer is not causing problems (unless they drive!). I have no problem with this type of 'responsible' drug use. Most folks grow out of it after realizing it does not make you happy not too much worse for the wear.
But this meth epidemic ruins the lives of the user and has tremendous collateral damage to families and the community as well. Bust them hard.
" I felt like a criminal one day asking for a box of sudafed for a killer sinus headache. "
You're not alone in the sinus problem department. Buy yourself a small humidifier and maybe an air filter too for your bedroom. Turn it on when you're sleeping. You'll be amazed how much it helps eliminate the sinus problems.
bump for later
Can someone tell me if these labs emit an odor? My husband and I notice an odor in a certain spot out in the country where there ought not be an odor that smells like a paper factory. We have wondered about it.
Might be a good idea to provide the same penalty for many of these people. I am continually shocked to find out how much of the general population use drugs on a regular basis.
What's the rehab rate for nicotine addiction?
If they would put cattle guards in all crosswalks, the meth freaks would fall through.
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