Pubdate: Tue, 11 Jan 2005
Source: Lake City Reporter (FL)
Copyright: 2005sLake City Reporter
Contact: http://www.lakecityreporter.com/letter/
Website: http://www.lakecityreporter.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1712
Author: Raja Abdulrahim
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

DRUG IS CORROSIVE, DEADLY, EASY TO MAKE

All or most of the ingredients can be found under the sink or in the
medicine cabinet. Ingredient lists and recipes are readily available
online. And making it, though corrosive to one's body, is apparently
not that difficult.

Which is probably why Columbia County, like most parts of the nation,
is experiencing a sharp rise in crystal methamphetamine users.

According to the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 12.4
million, 5.3 percent of the population, Americans age 12 and older had
tried crystal meth at least once in their lifetimes, with the majority
of users in the past year between 18 and 34 years of age.

While crack is the most widely used drug in Columbia County, local
officers say meth is beginning to catch up. In 2004, at least five
meth labs were found, according to officers.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the drug originated
from a few urban areas in the Southwest, and now rural areas
throughout the country are becoming more affected by the drug. The
drug, a white powder, can be snorted, smoked or injected. Like
cocaine, even trace amounts can lead to a felony charge.

Meth offers some unique challenges to law enforcement and counselors
in that it is readily available and easily made. There are various
recipes for meth which include such ingredients as cold medicine,
iodine, red phosphorus, fuel, acetone and drain cleaner. Many of these
are dangerous by themselves and together they become corrosive to the
body.

"I expect it to snowball quickly with the availability," said Gerald
Hoyt, program director at Meridian Behavioral Healthcare. He added
that meth users are mainly low income but the drug cuts across ethnic
lines.

Meth is a powerfully addictive stimulant associated with memory loss,
aggression, psychotic behavior, and potential heart and brain damage,
according to the NIDA.

"Methamphetamine is making crack cocaine look like candy," Hoyt
said.

Not only is the drug more addictive than cocaine, but the effects on a
person's body, mind and relationships is more destructive, Hoyt said.

Because the drug can be manufactured locally, meth offers unique
challenges to law enforcement officers. The cooking process can pose
as many health and safety risks as using the drug itself, said Keith
Heston, one of four local officers who has been trained to deal with
meth, and entering a lab can be dangerous.

In a meth lab fire in March, 11 fire fighters on the scene needed
medical treatment.

Heston attended the one week of Drug Enforcement Administration
training in mid 2004 where they made meth in a lab with the help of
chemists. During the process they wore protective gear including face
masks. Heston said making the drug was important to understanding the
cooking process.

The process of cooking meth releases several dangerous gases, which
sometimes cannot be detected. When entering a lab, officers must know
what phase in the process the chemicals have reached. Each phase needs
to be approached differently because at certain steps turning off the
oven or heater could cause an explosion. Heston said the process
cannot always be stopped and sometimes must be continued.

Officers entering the labs wear full protective suits and
masks.

"Meth is definitely in a different class," he said. "You can't breathe
it; you can't touch it. You don't just walk up and turn a cooker off."

Heston said it is important to have local officers who can respond to
a lab immediately and assess the situation and help in dissembling the
lab. Before the officers were trained, they would have to wait until
Florida Department of Law Enforcement meth experts came to handle the
situation.

Even with the training, clean up of the labs is still left up to
clean-up crews, who sometimes come from out of state when all instate
crews are busy.

Heston, who is also a member of the county and city drug task force,
said they receive information on labs all the time, but it has become
harder to find them because they move around a lot. In fact, more labs
are being set up in trucks or trailers so they can be moved when
needed. He said because the drug causes paranoia, and most of the
people who manufacture it also use it, finding the labs can be difficult.

"Based on intelligence," Heston said, they know the number of local
meth users and labs has gone up though he could not quantify it.

"Meth is growing pretty rapidly," he said. "I'd say it's at epidemic
proportions in some areas."
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MAP posted-by: Derek