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STATE DRUG WARS CONTINUE TO RAGE

Due mainly to the exorbitant rise in methamphetamine use, Police Chief, Tommy Thompson, approached Mayor Jerry Smith and members of the City Council about hiring a canine unit to better patrol the streets of Jacksonville.  Thompson made no bones about the fact that, while a bit pricey, having a drug sniffing dog on staff would give them a leg up in the war on crime.  On June 23, the council agreed to shell out $6,000 for a Labrador Retriever that would be trained as a drug sniffing dog.  The training was scheduled to take place at the Canine Detection Training Center and the dog will join the police force as partner to Cpl.  Scott Hodge.  The dog, which is scheduled to arrive around Sept.  4, is the latest maneuver by police departments throughout the South who have found themselves in a war against an ever increasing and especially dangerous illicit drug crime wave.  The major player in this game, especially relative to the South, is methamphetamine, known also as Meth, Crystal Meth, Crystal, Ice, Crank, Speed, Glass and Chalk.

"Crystal meth is becoming a problem here in Jacksonville," noted Thompson, echoing the sentiments of police chiefs throughout the area.  "It does not matter what age they are.  We have seen people from their teens to their 50s hooked on this stuff.  This is a plague upon the state right now."

According to researchers, the major drug threat in Alabama is "the widespread availability and abuse of illegal drugs arriving from outside the state, along with its homegrown marijuana and the increasing danger of local manufacture of methamphetamine and designer drugs."

It has been discovered that Mexican, Caribbean and regional drug trafficking organizations "have extensive distribution networks within the State of Alabama.  Outlaw motorcycle gangs are also supplying methamphetamine on a very limited basis through their own distribution network within the state."

"Within the past year," explained Thompson, "we have experienced around seven or eight meth arrests by the Jacksonville Police Department.  That is highly unusual.  That is the biggest reason we have elected to purchase a drug dog.  There are so many folks using this stuff or carrying it around with them, that it creates a dangerous situation for all of our citizens."

Perhaps the most dangerous aspect involved with methamphetamine, aside from the usage of this deadly drug, is the fact that the ingredients for making it are so readily available and so easily attainable that clandestine production labs are popping up everywhere.  These labs are highly volatile and combustive and can create quite a hazard for anyone who comes in contact with them ( whether knowingly or by mistake ).

"The frightening increase of clandestine methamphetamine labs in America is putting rural areas at great risk," explained Stephen A.  Hester, a hazmat training specialist.  "It doesn't matter whether the lab is a house, a rented storage unit, a trailer, a pickup or in a car trunk, the hazardous chemicals can be absorbed.

"When you go into a house, you want to go home from it alive.  Meth labs are highly toxic and extremely flammable.  Chemicals and fumes can contaminate you just by being exposed to them."

Hester warns that the drug can be manufactured by process or either hot cooking or cold cooking.  Both activities produce deadly results that citizens should guard themselves against.

"Clandestine methamphetamine labs could be in your neighborhood," added Hester.  "Being a good and responsible neighbor means keeping your family safe.  Keep your eyes open and report any oddities to the authorities.  Better to be mistaken than dead."

Hester noted that users of meth are generally easy to spot.  Often, they are skinny and pock marked from digging at rashes that itch and appear nervous or hyper.  Users have trouble sleeping.  Those producing meth generally have red hands and necks.  Their fingernails turn dark colored or are missing.

Since meth crimes have risen so greatly over the last few months, increasing from six meth lab seizures statewide in 1997 to 201 last year, Jacksonville police officers have undergone extensive specialized training for spotting labs and clean up.

"We met with trainers of forensic sciences and they held classes on these labs," explained Thompson.  "They told us how to spot them in hotel rooms, vans that are moving down the street, apartment buildings and other locations.  We also got a little information on how to clean them up."

Thompson noted, however, that since the cost for cleaning up a meth lab can quickly jump into the quarter of a million dollar range, they usually turn over the clean up of area meth labs to hazmat and the Calhoun/Cleburne County Drug Task Force.

While no labs have yet to be discovered in Jacksonville, Thompson admits it is only a matter of time before they uncover one.  In fact, police admit they already found the remnants of one in an abandoned trailer located in a trailer park on the outskirts of town.

According to Thompson, however, there have been many arrests of people attempting to load up on the ingredients for making the drug.

"All the cases you hear of people breaking into Bear Cutlery," explained Thompson, "they are trying to get chemicals to make the drug.  We also have folks who will shoplift ephedrine, used in some sinus medications, or attempt to purchase car loads of the stuff at one time.

"You are only allowed to buy five packs of sinus medicine, or any medicine containing ephedrine at one time.  Anyone attempting to purchase more sets off an alarm and we are automatically alerted to this activity."

Other potential ingredients used in the production and manufacturing of meth include: Red Devil Lye, Drano, match books ( the phosphorous on the book strikers are utilized ), acetone, rubbing alcohol, ammonia and paint thinner among others.

Even small amounts of the drug can produce serious negative effects on your body, such as hypothermia and convulsions which sometimes result in death to the user.  Researchers have reported that as much as 50 percent of the dopamine producing cells in the brain can be damaged after exposure to even low levels of methamphetamine.  This brain damage is like that caused by strokes or Alzheimer's disease.

"This stuff is supposed to be as addictive as crack," concluded Thompson, "and even more powerful.  It is bad news anyway you look at it and people need to be aware of the dangers so they will stay away from it.

"Our officers are trained and ready to keep Jacksonville's streets safe against those making it, selling it and using it.  So, the best thing to do is to just say no."