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." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman