Pubdate: Fri, 25 Nov 2005
Source: Huntsville Item (TX)
Copyright: 2005 Huntsville Item and Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.itemonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1126
Author: Tori Brock
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Series: Part I -
Series: Part II - http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1851/a06.html
Series: Part III -
Series: Part IV -

METH AND DESTRUCTION, PART I

Mike's an addict from way back. He's been addicted to some drug or 
another for decades, but he said none has ever done to him what meth 
has. Mike's name has been changed to protect his identity, and from 
an interview in the Walker County Jail on Monday, he said meth is a 
drug no one should touch.

"I started meth a couple of years ago," the 30-something-year-old man 
said. "I had always done marijuana."

Marijuana is the drug of choice for many, but expedience is key, 
according to Mike, and the timing issue led him to meth.

"I was on probation for marijuana," he said. "Marijuana stays in your 
system longer than meth. Meth gets out of your system in three days 
and you can pass a piss test."

While many addicts report a need to "tweak" or disassemble anything 
within reach, Mike said the drug had the opposite effect on him.

"A lot of people take things apart and don't put them back together, 
but I build toys," he said. "It kept me awake. It motivated me.

"It was like drinking pots and pots of coffee," he added. "I wasn't 
hungry. You just want to be doing something. I lost probably 50 or 60 
pounds once I started using, because I wasn't eating."

After beginning use, an addict can enjoy the effect the drug has on 
their system, while the drug is busy tearing apart various components 
of their body.

"I have dentures on the top," Mike said, pulling back his lips, 
revealing the dentures and about four blackened teeth lining his 
bottom jaw. "My muscles and joints cramp. My whole body hurts.

"It hurts your sexual drive. It's painful to have sex, so it's not 
something you want to have," he said, looking down at his hands. "It 
deteriorates your whole body."

While the pain he feels in his body is bad, Mike said it's nothing 
compared to the pain in his heart.

"It's hurt my family," he said. "My girlfriend is out there. Her 
electricity is off. She's not used to dealing (with me being gone). 
She's used to me taking care of her."

Meth is more expensive than cocaine, according to Mike, but there's a 
reason addicts are drawn to the drug.

"At $100 a gram for meth, when coke's $50, meth costs more, but it 
lasts longer," he said. "With meth, you can be up for three or four 
days. A gram of coke can be gone in a couple of hours.

"With meth, you'll see people up all night long. If you see someone 
in the middle of the night mowing their lawn with a spotlight, 
chances are, they're on meth," he said with a laugh. "A meth head can 
always recognize a meth head."

Selling drugs in Walker County can be a lucrative business, Mike 
said, and he would know. He's sold as well as used.

"There's people doing meth that you wouldn't even think were doing 
it," he said. "The meth problem here is bad. It's worse than anything 
else we have.

"I'd say $70,000 a week moves through here at least," he said. "It's 
a big deal."

Getting meth into the system isn't hard, and addicts have gotten 
creative about ingesting the drug.

"You can snort it. You can smoke it. You can shoot it. You can eat 
it," Mike said. "You can put it in your coffee and drink it.

"My drug counselor told me smoking it was the quickest way to get it 
to the brain - the quickest way to get a buzz," Mike said, adding 
that his drug counselor probably didn't intend for him to use the 
information to later get high. "I wish I'd never gotten involved, 
that's for sure."

Mike said through years of marijuana and cocaine use and abuse, he 
never had any of the problems he's having now.

"It's a bad drug. It's worldwide," he said. "I messed with the meth, 
that's what took me down here. I don't think I'd be locked up here 
right now if it wasn't for meth."

A Meth Cook's Story

By Tori His skin shows a slight sag around his jaws, a byproduct of his 
former lifestyle. His eyes, however, are clear and bright, a result 
of his current situation, where he sits in the Walker County Jail.

He's a sandy-blonde, all-American boy in his 20s. He looks like the 
boy next door, like he could coach a boy's Little League team. He 
doesn't look like a meth addict, but he is.

And, he's not alone.

More than 12 million people ages 12 and older reported they had used 
methamphetamines at least once in their lifetime, according to the 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Results From the 2002 
National Survey on Drug Use and Health. And the numbers continue to 
rise as the drug becomes more common and easier to find.

Throughout this story, this man will be referred to as John to 
protect his identity.

John said he started using meth about nine months ago. At the time, 
he was holding down two full-time jobs in Huntsville. He had friends, 
a wife, three kids and a home. And, he nearly lost it all.

"I had never tried anything before that," John said. "It damn near 
cost me everything. My wife has just now decided to give me a shot 
when I get out."

One hit - that's it, seems to be the calling card of the drug, known 
on the street as ice, crystal meth, glass and crank, among many others.

"The devil put that stuff on the Earth," John said. "One hit's too 
many, 1,000 ain't enough.

"It cost me my job. I lost a lot of weight. It made me look different 
in the eyes of everyone who used to know me," he added. "My friends, 
my old bosses, they won't even speak to me anymore. I used to talk 
bad about people who messed with dope and I ended up that way."

For all the bad things you hear about the drug, it seems new users 
are addicted every day. John said it's because the high is unlike any 
other drug.

"There's no words to describe the high," he said. "There are three 
different kinds: if you smoke it, you get one kind of high. If you 
snort it, you get another high and if you hotrail it (combining the 
two) you get another.

"The ultimate high is shooting," he said, shaking his head. "You 
think you can go through a brick wall. You're not scared."

Meth is notorious for keeping users awake, because it's a stimulant 
that speeds up the central nervous system.

"I've been up for so long at one time," John said. "I was driving 
back from Conroe and I stopped in the middle of the freeway on I-45 
and fell asleep. My friend had to pull me out of the drivers seat to 
get us home."

Extreme paranoia is also a common side-effect, and John said it was 
one of the worst for him. From an interview room in the Walker County 
Jail on Monday, he spoke to narcotics Detective Justin Smith about 
some of his worst nights.

"I sat there for three hours with a pair of binoculars one time - 
watching you watch me," he told Detective Smith. "I watched you guys 
with binoculars and you were watching me with binoculars."

Smith asked him if there were actually any law enforcement officers 
there that night.

"Looking back," John said, "I guess not, because you would have 
busted in on me then."

Another night, John recalled, he told his wife he was going to work 
on a friend's vehicle.

"I was gone for two weeks, hiding in the woods," he said.

John's foray into the world of crystal meth didn't stop with using. 
Before he was busted by law enforcement, he was a meth cook.

"I was introduced to someone who had been a dope cook," he said. "I 
was the trainee, I guess you'd say.

"At one time, I'd cook up to 50 ounces a month. That's a lot of 
dope," he said. "That's the funny thing, though, a lot of it, I'd 
give away. I'd front it to you to get you in the business. It's 
really an organized crime."

Pulling in $900 to $1,200 per ounce, meth is one of the cheapest 
drugs to make, and has the highest markup, according to John, who 
said hundreds of thousands of dollars of meth moves in Walker County 
each month.

"I know this sounds bad," he said. "Now that I'm off it, I wish that 
stuff was never around.

"Anyone can step down into the gutter," he said, his voice trailing 
off. "I'm not messing with it anymore."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman