Pubdate: Sun, 28 Aug 2005
Source: Sun Journal, The (NC)
Copyright: 2005, Freedom ENC Communications
Contact:  http://www.newbernsunjournal.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1733
Author: Francine Sawyer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

USE OF METH SEEN AS A GROWING PROBLEM

The State Bureau of Investigation and Sgt. Joe Heckman, of the Craven 
County Sheriff's narcotics unit, both say the methamphetamine problem is 
now an epidemic.

So far this year, Heckman has uncovered two meth labs, while four labs were 
discovered and destroyed in eastern Craven County last year.

"We knew it was coming. It's not slowing down," Heckman said.

Heckman and two other narcotics officers run drug investigations from 
Vanceboro to Harlowe.

Heckman says the information comes in slowly and has to be pieced together. 
He said often meth labs are so well hidden that investigators often have to 
search an area countless times to locate one.

"We know there are more meth labs out there. We don't have the tools as in 
manpower to get the job done quickly," he said.

Meanwhile, a special unit from the SBI has been formed to address the 
growing meth lab epidemic. The mission is two-fold - to combat the problem 
and educate statewide law enforcement agencies.

That educational theory will enable emergency personnel, such as 
firefighters, to know the clues that a dangerous and explosive meth lab is 
inside a burning dwelling.

Blane Hicks, SBI special agent in charge, said the meth problem appears to 
be rural, but one day city firefighters could face a burning meth lab.

Hicks said common household products such as drain cleaner, rubbing 
alcohol, brake cleaner, engine starter, lithium batteries, iodine, farm 
fertilizer, acetone, cat litter and the most important ingredient, cold 
tablets should be red flags for firefighters going to a meth lab fire.

Hicks said clues include the striking pad of a number of matches and 
blister packs that contain cold medicine tabs in the trash

Just more than a week ago Heckman made a raid of a meth lab.

"Clues were everywhere," he said. "In the trash barrel behind the garage 
were hundreds of match pads. I knew then before we got search warrants to 
enter that we had a meth lab."

Other common products include Pyrex or Corning Ware dishes, plastic jugs, 
Mason jars, paper towels, coffee filters, rubber tubing and propane tanks 
with a "Duke blue" color on the valves of the tank, pails, buckets, gas 
cans and aluminum foil.

While Hicks said the SBI does not profile meth operators, he did say 
statistics show that the typical person arrested is a white man in his mid 20s.

The addiction rate is 95 percent, and most of those addicted produce their 
own meth in clandestine labs, Heckman said.

"It is not considered a street drug," Heckman said.

Apart from the addiction of meth, the lab itself is a disaster waiting to 
happen.

"Meth labs can explode because of the volatile chemicals used in the 
manufacturing process, and the toxicity can turn a neighborhood into a 
hazardous-waste area," Heckman said. "Children can easily succumb to fumes 
from some of the chemicals and suffer lasting respiratory problems."

A volunteer firefighter lost 85 percent usage of his lung after a meth lab 
explosion in Watauga County in the western part of the state, according to 
Hicks.

According to the SBI, meth labs sprang up in the western part of North 
Carolina in 1999, continuing to spread from the West Coast when they began 
about 20 years ago.

In 1999, the state located 9 labs. Last year, 322 labs were shut down with 
more than 145 shut down so far this year. So far this year, more than 50 
children have been removed from homes where meth was being made, according 
to a SBI report.

The General Assembly this year put more bite in punishment for 
manufacturing meth, increasing active prison sentences to a range of three 
to 3 1/2 years.

Heckman said the law is a start, and also thinks requiring the placement of 
cold medicines behind counters helps as well.

"I foresee drug stores being the target of larceny for the medicines. Also 
the medicines can be shipped in from foreign countries," he said.

Heckman said it takes 23,000 cold tablets to produce 2.4 pounds of meth.

Heckman considers meth a public health problem, from its addictive nature 
to the possibility of explosion.

He said he had asked some why they make meth.

"They said the high is intense and that meth is very addictive," Heckman 
said. "They say it is worth the risk to make and take the drug."

Heckman said typical drug dealers don't use meth but will sell it.

"He sells it and laughs about selling hell to someone," Heckman said.
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