Pubdate: Wed, 07 Apr 2004
Source: Charleston Daily Mail (WV)
Copyright: 2004 Charleston Daily Mail
Contact:  http://www.dailymail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/76
Author: George Gannon, Megan Kenny

METH BUSTS ON RISE IN KANAWHA VALLEY

Full-Time Cleanup Company Opening A Local Office

The illegal production of methamphetamine has become such a problem in 
Kanawha and Putnam counties that a company contracted by the Drug 
Enforcement Administration to clean up a lab is opening a local office.

Ferguson Harbor Service Inc., a Tennessee-based company that specializes in 
transporting and disposing of hazardous waste, is scheduled to open an 
office in the area in the next few months, said Lt. Steve Neddo, head of 
the Metro Drug Unit.

Currently, if a local police agency raids a lab, which they've been taking 
down at a rate of two per week since the first of the year, it can't leave 
the scene until a crew from Columbus, Ohio, comes down to clean up the site.

Neddo said Ferguson is a for-profit operation, and it wouldn't come here if 
it wasn't going to make money. Attempts to contact the company for comment 
were unsuccessful.

A look at the number of labs processed by the officers under Neddo's 
command proves the Kanawha Valley is the place to be for those who want to 
make money by cleaning up the materials used to cook the drug.

"It's a huge problem," Neddo said.

This year, drug unit agents have raided 27 labs. If history is any 
indication, that number is likely to increase over the next eight months.

In 2003, police raided 38 labs. Seven were taken down in 2002.

The operations aren't huge. Neddo calls them "Mom and Pop" or "Beavis and 
Butt-head" labs, referencing two animated MTV characters known for their 
slow wit and diabolical laugh.

Meth is derived from the cold medicine pseudoephedrine. The ultimate goal 
of a cook is to isolate the ephedrine, the drug's active ingredient. When 
taken in a more pure form, the highly addictive drug gives users the 
feeling of a constant adrenaline rush.

The operations for making the drug usually follow a similar model. A small 
group of people will buy the ingredients, which range from pseudoephedrine 
to Coleman fuel, go to someone's house, cook and then split the product.

How a person takes the drug is up to the individual. It can be snorted, 
smoked, taken orally or injected.

Although some money can be made off the enterprise, Neddo said the goal of 
most of the people they've busted is to get a buzz, not traffic the dope 
for cash. Cooks who live in the area don't mind sharing their recipes. They 
recently arrested a man on the outskirts of Charleston who was teaching two 
others how to cook the drug.

An odd offshoot of the problem is that some storeowners are profiteering on 
items used to cook the drug. Neddo said he spoke to one business owner who 
noticed that people were buying matches by the caseload. The red phosphorus 
in match heads is used in the cooking process. When he realized what was 
going on, the man then tripled his price.

Like most drugs, Neddo said, the initial high is powerful, but the euphoric 
feeling diminishes the longer the person takes it. After the effects of the 
meth wear off, a person crashes and can drop into a days-long sleep. They 
then have to pump themselves full of the drug to get back to a normal mood.

"They're no longer doing it to get high. They're doing it to feel normal," 
he said.

The drug also seems to play on a person's "fight or flight" reaction. When 
most people are confronted by a police officer, they generally know they're 
caught and give up. But Neddo said a lot of the meth addicts seem to be 
willing to fight.

He cited the case of Oklahoma State Trooper Nik Green. Green was shot and 
killed in Devol, Okla., in December by a former firefighter who police say 
was strung out on meth. The case is pending in Oklahoma's state court.

Calling it a case of "paranoia to the extreme," Neddo said meth addicts 
think everybody is out to get them. His officers recently arrested a man 
who stood at his window for days with a loaded gun because he thought 
people were watching him.

A woman who drove to Florida to pick up a load of meth managed to take some 
on the trip back to West Virginia. When she arrived in Charleston, she 
turned herself into police because she thought black Chevrolet Suburbans 
were following her.

Aside from the problems associated with the addiction, the drug can have a 
dangerous effect on the community because the cooking process is so volatile.

Neddo cited an incident in Charleston Tuesday afternoon where a West Side 
home was severely damaged by a fire caused by a possible meth lab 
explosion. Other than the alleged cook, two other people were in the home. 
Had city firefighters not responded to the residence so quickly, Neddo said 
the flames could have spread and destroyed two other buildings.

There was another incident on the city's West Side last year in which the 
basement apartment of a two-story home caught fire when a man was inside 
trying to cook meth on an outdoor grill, Neddo said. The people who lived 
in the home's upper portion had no idea what he was up to until they saw 
smoke coming out of the apartment.

The drug's byproduct also is incredibly dangerous. Police said a man 
started a Dumpster fire at Washington Manor in February when he threw a 
garbage bag full of meth cooking byproducts into the container, causing an 
explosion.

In the fight against the drug, Neddo said it is incumbent on prosecuting 
attorneys to take a more active role in the cases.

He added that there needs to be more restrictions on how many 
pseudoephedrine pills a person could buy at one time.

Putnam County experienced a 100 percent increase in meth lab busts from 
2002 to 2003. County deputies have busted 11 meth labs this year, including 
one taken down late Tuesday on Turkey Creek Road in Hurricane.

"The thing has increased so much, if we've already had 10 by March, I'm 
just hoping it doesn't double again," said Chief Deputy John Dailey.

All the labs taken down this year have been found in either vehicles or in 
homes, Dailey said. He added that no deaths or massive fires have been 
reported.

"It's just as bad with all the chemicals out there," Dailey said.

He said landlords have problems with tenants who set up meth labs in their 
apartments because from that point on, a landlord is required to disclose 
that a property was used for making meth to every potential new tenant.

The chemicals seep into every part of the apartment, from the tiles in the 
ceiling to the floorboards.

Dailey reiterated Neddo's point that meth can be a danger to a community 
even if it doesn't cause an accident. He said deputies took down a lab last 
year where a suspect fled and dumped the chemicals into a neighbor's yard.

Right now, the sheriff's department has three drug agents, and Dailey said 
when three deputies who are in Iraq return to the force, he might add a fourth.

"I've said it before, I could put seven deputies on (meth cases), and 
they'd all be working full time," Dailey said.

 From the bust to the indictment, a deputy will put in about 100 hours per 
lab bust.

Because the problem isn't only confined to rural areas of the county, he'd 
like to see some of the city police departments add to the drug force.

"If we don't get it in their cities, it doesn't mean they don't have it," 
Dailey said.

Dailey said there were lots of contributing factors to the booming meth 
industry -- high taxes and a weak economy -- to name a few. He said it's 
easy money. Someone making and selling meth stands to make $100 per gram 
from a $500 investment.

He said the biggest problem, though, is the Internet.

A Google search for the terms "make meth," a search Dailey has run, yields 
thousands of hits, including articles on the dangers of making meth to 
extensive and easy-to-follow recipes for production.

That kind of wide ranging access to the drug recipes makes meth a 
far-reaching crime. Those arrested range in age from their teens to their 
40s and 50s, Dailey said.

"It's like anything else. You're a criminal if you're 20 or 80," he said. 
"They are all the same. They just don't care."

He said that often the crimes are linked to drug and alcohol use.

"The last guy I got had a needle in one hand, a vial of crank in the 
other," Dailey said.

State Police were involved in a case last December where Charles Damian 
Price, 24, was killed by either inhaling the fumes from a meth lab or the 
explosion of the meth lab. His body was dumped in a Jims Ridge field out of 
fear that police would discover the meth lab, police said.

Dailey said despite the spate of meth lab busts, Putnam County is still one 
of the safest, at least compared to its neighbors. Last year, Putnam County 
experienced only two robberies and had no murders.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart