Pubdate: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) Copyright: 2004 Richmond Newspapers Inc. Contact: http://www.timesdispatch.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365 Author: Calvin R. Trice Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) DRUG HAS CRUEL GRIP ON REGION Methamphetamine Is Shattering Lives In Shenandoah Valley STAUNTON - Marie remembers well the day in November 2001 when her life suddenly changed for the worse. The 47-year-old grandmother was inside the Staunton home she shared with her boyfriend, making Christmas wreaths for a crafts show when someone knocked on the door. It was the police, and they had a warrant. Nine officers stormed inside. Her methamphetamine dealing days were over. "We just turned over what we had," she recalled. "We are not the kind of people to be belligerent with police." Authorities seized less than an ounce of methamphetamine, several scales, dope baggies for distribution and straws for snorting, according to Marie and court records. Marie, who spoke on condition that her full name not be used, was handcuffed along with her boyfriend and taken to the police station. He proposed marriage there. She accepted. Later, they received five years each of supervised probation for possession of methamphetamine, court records show. Marie was a construction contractor at the time. But her side business of peddling methamphetamine, which she ran for 15 years, shows how pervasive the drug business has become in the Shenandoah Valley. Ten years ago, methamphetamine, also called meth, was virtually unknown in the region. Now, the volume of meth's traffic and police seizures has equaled or outstripped that of cocaine and marijuana in some parts of the valley. Marie and a recovering addict from Augusta County, who also agreed to talk, claim that methamphetamine has a user base among country folk in the hills and mountains, street urchins in the picturesque towns and construction workers and professionals throughout. Meth first appeared in the Harrisonburg area in the mid-1990s and took hold north and south of Rockingham County by 2000. The drug appeals to the strong work ethic in the region, where the unemployment rate typically keeps to the low single digits even during bad economic times. "We've got a lot of people that work second and third shifts," said Tom Murphy, a state police agent who coordinates the RUSH Drug Task Force for Harrisonburg and Rockingham County to the north. "Meth is a speed - an upper - so it keeps people going like a mega-caffeine, " he said. A single mother would start on the drug so that she could keep house during the day, spend time with her children at night, then work the midnight shift, Murphy said. Those who work one regular shift might discover that they're more productive on meth, said Scott Bird, a drug investigator with the Staunton Police Department. The drug produces a high similar to cocaine and is just as potently addictive. Also called speed, ice or crank, methamphetamine is typically sold as a pill, powder or crystal and taken by injection, smoking or snorting. It gives a long-lasting alertness and euphoria and can keep abusers up for days continuously. The drug acts on serotonin receptors in the brain, which causes the high. It also acts on dopamine receptors, which contributes to its addictive quality, said Dr. Chris Holstege, director of the University of Virginia Health System's Division of Toxicology. Speed makes people detail-oriented, hyper-workers even in their leisure time, Marie said. "In fact, you focus too minutely on details," she said. "Someone who's high might go to clean the bathroom, and you'll find them in there with a toothbrush cleaning each tile." When Marie was high, she might, in quick succession, decide to play an instrument, clean up and then repair a small appliance. More activities and projects would follow, she said, though none would get finished. Joe, 33, of Augusta County, is a certified welder recovering from a decade of crank addiction. He also spoke on condition that his full name not be used. Joe was working well-paying jobs when he began daily use. He worked his way up to being line leader at a plant. Work comes naturally on a high that keeps you from ever being drowsy, he said. "I'd stay up for two weeks, sleep for six hours, then stay up another two weeks," Joe said. He began snorting crank with a housemate and girlfriend in Augusta County but injected exclusively during the latter years of his addiction. He went from snorting a gram at a time to injecting about two "8-balls" - about 31/2 grams each - a day, he said. Two 8-balls could cost as much as $500 on the street, but Joe said he got the drug for considerably less because he was dealing. His mother said she could always tell when Joe was high. He fidgeted, licked his lips a lot, dug into his pockets constantly and walked with dizzying spurts. "He wouldn't sit still. He'd walk like he was trying to get through a fire," she said. While high, he'd take apart videocassette recorders, televisions and stereo equipment and put them back together. He once fixed all of his parents' computers. Joe left his welding jobs when he started dealing, though. He would occasionally steal from his parents. They put him out, and he landed in a local hotel where the manager was an addict and a dealer lived a floor beneath him. He became part of a local theft and drug-trafficking ring. He was eventually arrested and convicted on several breaking-and-entering and felony theft counts. He received concurrent sentences as long as five years and served four months in jail last year. He was subsequently forced into rehabilitation because he violated his probation with drug use, court records show. He's been clean for four months, he said. Marie said she first used drugs as a college student in California and used various illicit intoxicants at different times in her life. Enticed by the money, she learned the meth trade in the 1990s under a local drug dealer. One dealer told her his grandfather made moonshine, his father grew pot and he sold meth. She used some of her supply, but never very much. Only about a gram a day, Marie said. "I was more addicted to the money," she said. "If I could make $100 [on a sale] or stay up all night, I'd make $100." She made about $48,000 a year from meth trafficking. That money supplemented about $40,000 a year she made on her contracting business shaping and finishing concrete. She would sell only to working adults she knew and who were at least 30 years old. Her customers worked and went to bed every night and kept themselves and their habits under control, she said. "There are cranksters here running cranes, bulldozers, laying bricks, painting. You'd be very, very surprised," she said. Still, long-term abuse carries many ill effects. Highs can cause hallucination, psychotic episodes and aggressive behavior. Extreme paranoia is typical. Investigators said it is not unusual for dealers who use their drugs to set up extensive video surveillance equipment inside and outside their homes. They fortify themselves with fencing and arm themselves with scores of guns, police said. Josh Sholes, an investigator with the Augusta County Sheriff's Office, said some meth users turn themselves in to authorities to end the torment of what they believe is police surveillance on them - even though there isn't any. "We wouldn't even have a case on them," Sholes said, but the users would swear the police had been snooping around their homes to bust them. "They'd tell us, 'I know you're about to get me, anyway. I saw you hiding in the bushes. Did you hear what I said to you the other night?'" Methamphetamine has among the lowest recovery rates for people trying to get off it. Withdrawal can result in severe depression. Abusers typically have rotten teeth, either from the drug's effects or from lack of hygiene during days-long highs. Joe needs a mouthful of caps, his mother said. Abusers tend to go without food as much as they do without sleep. Joe said he once became so dehydrated that he suffered heat stroke. Another time, after he was up too long and not eating enough, his muscles seized up, while he was alone. "I couldn't move, and I couldn't speak," he said. "I tried to yell for help, but nothing came out." Falling asleep after days awake can be involuntary. Marie remembered once sitting and talking to her daughter across a dining table after Marie had been up for seven days straight. She had a muscle spasm, collapsed forward and slept for 14 hours, she said. Joe had a sleep crash that could have claimed his life. He passed out while driving on Interstate 81 with his car in cruise control at 75 mph. As his head leaned on the window, his Suzuki Sidekick veered off the highway and wrecked. He was not seriously injured, he said. Abuse can in the long term produce psychoses and cardiovascular damage, because the drug raises blood pressure and quickens the heartbeat, said Holstege, of the U.Va. Health System. "They're going to be at an increased risk for heart attacks in the future" Holstege said. For Joe and Marie, the meth use and trafficking have damaged their lives more than their bodies. Joe is a highly skilled worker adept at electronics. Marie has a master's degree in psychology, is an artisan and can play drums for blues and heavy metal. Now, both are felons who've had trouble landing even menial jobs because of their records. Marie believes the biggest weakness for rehabilitation is that offenders have nothing to go back to once the state releases them. The illicit trade is made all the more tempting, with the chance to make $500 in a 20-minute transaction, she said. "Here I am, almost 50 years old, and I'm asking people to give me a menial job, and I don't get it. It's depressing," she said. Marie has changed her home telephone number five times to keep suppliers from calling her to get back into the meth traffic. She recently landed a job cooking at a Staunton restaurant, she said. Joe looks back and sees a wasted chance at prosperity from several well-paying jobs he left for the streets. He recently found a job and is living back home with his parents. "I should have a home, I should have anything anybody should want," he said. "I'm 33-year-old and I don't have [anything] to show for it." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin