Pubdate: Sun, 24 Jul 2005
Source: News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
Copyright: 2005 The News and Observer Publishing Company
Contact: https://miva.nando.com/contact_us/letter_editor.html
Website: http://www.news-observer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/304
Author: Barbara Barrett, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

COUNTY RIFE WITH METH FIGHTS BACK

Lab Proliferation Challenges McDowell County Investigators To Get A Handle
On The Problem

MARION -- On a white board deep inside the McDowell County Sheriff's
Office, a dozen names and addresses are scrawled in red and black
marker, connected by arrows and circles -- a complex web of drug
production in a small community that, until a few years ago, had
little clue how to combat a new scourge. McDowell County has landed
the dubious title of most meth-riddled community in the state, during
a time when North Carolina has seen methamphetamine cases skyrocket.

In the first six months of this year, the state busted 199 meth labs,
20 percent more than the same time a year ago, according to the State
Bureau of Investigations. McDowell topped the list at 46.

Most of the labs are in western counties in the foothills and
mountains. But methamphetamine has reached the state's central region,
too. In the Triangle, Johnston County busted three active and nine
dormant labs this year. Granville and Franklin counties each busted a
lab.

The drug is crawling eastward across the state, worrying officials
enough that they're scrambling to train investigators, toughening
sentencing guidelines and pushing a new law that would restrict the
availability of meth ingredients such as cold medicines to the public.

Some local law agencies hope that by educating the public and
developing a network of informants, they're finally getting a handle
on how to battle meth. But they also worry that the cooks are catching
on.

"They're getting harder to get," said Shannon Smith, a drug detective
with McDowell County. "I don't know if we're running out of them, or
if they're concealing [the labs] better."

Methamphetamine isn't new to North Carolina. Even back in the 1980s,
agents busted labs in McDowell County. But back then, the entire state
would see just a handful a year, said Van Shaw, assistant special
agent in charge of the SBI's Clandestine Laboratory Response Program.

Now the numbers are increasing in part, officials say, because of
geography and word-of-mouth communication among users and cooks.

The spread of meth

Meth became popular out west decades ago, in states such as
California, and has marched steadily across the continent, hitting
some states harder than others. Tennessee saw 1,500 labs last year,
for example, Shaw said.

McDowell investigators say one man in particular moved in from
Tennessee and passed out his recipe -- brand names and all -- to about
a dozen users. They then passed it on to their user friends. The
Tennessean since has been sentenced for operating a lab, said Lt.
Jackie Turner, the head drug investigator in the McDowell County
Sheriff's Office, and investigators are working up conspiracy charges
against him.

In the meantime, agents are amused to see the same brands -- Red Devil
lye, for example -- turn up at bust after bust. And the recipe just
keeps spreading.

"An addict can feed his own addiction," said Turner. "They learn to
cook it, and then just -- boom!"

It was maybe two years ago that a man first came into Spencer's
Hardware in Marion asking about some iodine, usually used for injured
horses.

Would it be cheaper, he asked, if he bought a case? Owner Nancy
Spencer thought it an odd purchase; usually the store sells just a few
bottles per quarter.

Some time later, a detective told Spencer about this new drug hitting
the county, and she understood. She started writing down names and tag
numbers and calling police. She trained cashiers to do the same.

The purchases have fallen off, she said on a recent afternoon. She
thinks the cooks figured out she was reporting them.

She walked to the back of the store, where the $9.99-a-bottle iodine
is kept on a top shelf among the horse supplies. There was none left.

"Hmm," she said to herself. "That's interesting."

Spencer walked over to the plumbing section and pointed out several
canisters of Red Devil lye. She sells tubing too, the kind that cooks
use.

She's thinking of pulling every ingredient off her shelves, law or no
law.

"It breaks my heart to think I might be selling something," she said.
"And I probably have. They've gotten very slick."

Still, if she sees something, she calls. McDowell investigators gather
data on dozens of individuals and addresses. Every conversation, no
matter how minor, gets tucked into one of several file cabinets among
investigators' desks.

Enforcement tactics

The white board in the agents' office is their battle plan, variably
illustrating their chief suspects and the matrix of relationships
among users around the county. Talking to businesses about the problem
has been part of McDowell's larger mission to use the entire community
as informants.

"It's all about intelligence," Turner said.

Methamphetamine, also known as crank, crystal and speed, can be easily
produced in a variety of recipes, each with everyday ingredients.
Mountain cooks use the red-phosphorous method: They mix lye, iodine,
matchbook striker plates and the pseudoephedrine found in crushed
tablets of over-the-counter cold medicines such as Sudafed.

Down east, in places such as Johnston and Sampson counties, cooks fire
their concoctions with lithium metal and anhydrous ammonia, a chemical
found in a federally regulated fertilizer. It's called the Nazi method.

Either way, when the mixture is strained through a coffee filter, a
powder remains. Users normally cradle the powder in a square of
aluminum foil, hold a lighter beneath it and inhale the fumes.

Meth offers a euphoric, sexually charged high. Users can stay awake
for days, then come crashing into a long, hard slumber. As a result,
they seldom keep jobs, and children often go neglected or abused. In
Johnston County, at least 20 children have been placed in foster care
over the past two years because of meth dangers, but that number
doesn't include the kids who went to live with relatives after social
services removed them from homes.

The drug consumes untold state and local resources, Turner said. A
single bust can tie up people for nearly 20 hours.

In nearly every bust, a State Bureau of Investigation agent responds,
and chemists have to drive in from Raleigh to analyze evidence that is
then destroyed on the site. Children have to be decontaminated and
given medical examinations as social workers stand by. The toxic scene
must be cleaned up.

"The problem is growing so rapidly that it's hard for us to keep up
with it," said Attorney General Roy Cooper. "It is putting a
significant strain on chemical analysts and our special investigations
agents."

Last year's state budget included 14 new drug-fighting agents in the
state Department of Justice; Cooper had asked for 42 positions,
including lab workers. This year, Cooper has asked for 13 new
positions, including six chemists and two chemistry technicians to
analyze evidence.

Drug agents also are pushing hard for a new law that would restrict
the sale of cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine or ephedrine.
The law would put the medicines behind a counter, limit purchases, and
require buyers to show an ID and sign a register.

The bill passed the Senate and now is in the House, where lobbyists
for retailers and drug manufacturers are offering less-strict
alternatives.

Getting retailers to voluntarily restrict sales has been a big factor
in making arrests so far, Turner said.

But even those efforts are spotty. In one strip shopping center in
Marion this week, for example, Sudafed was hidden behind counters at
Family Dollar and Eckerd. But other pseudoephedrine-containing
medicines -- such as Contac and Sudafed Cold -- were still on the
shelf at Eckerd. And none of the drugs was restricted at the Ingles
grocery store.

And it's not just cold medicines that police are following. In
Johnston County, investigators have passed out do-not-sell lists of
names to anhydrous ammonia suppliers. The list includes people agents
suspect are legally buying the product and selling it to meth cooks.

Nailing down numbers

McDowell investigators have told social service workers and
firefighters what to look for. They've talked with teachers. They've
got a long list of merchants who routinely call in tips. On July 7, a
civilian phoned in about a bag of trash on a roadside.

The bag turned out to contain spent iodine bottles, empty pill packets
and stripped matchbooks. McDowell agents cleaned it up and marked it a
bust.

That same day, deputies responded to a fight inside a trailer. They
noticed Mason jars of clear liquids, suspected a lab and shut it down.

The state is trying to get a better handle on the numbers, because not
all counties are reporting everything. McDowell, for example, counts
everything they find as a meth lab, including that bag of trash.
Johnston officially lists just active lab busts with the SBI.

"Understand this: The number of labs are grossly underreported," Shaw
said.

In Marion, Turner stood near the white board in the drug agents'
windowless office, waving his arm toward the unseen mountains outside.

"There is addiction all up in there," he said. "I mean, it's there."

Staff writer Mandy Locke contributed to this report.
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