Pubdate: Mon, 28 Mar 2005
Source: Herald-Mail, The (Hagerstown, MD)
Copyright: 2005 The Herald-Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.herald-mail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1537
Author: Pepper Ballard
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

AUTHORITIES WORK TO HEAD OFF METH PROBLEM

Made From Easily Obtained Ingredients, Methamphetamine Is Highly
Addictive

WASHINGTON COUNTY - The Washington County Narcotics Task Force is on
the lookout for methamphetamine users, dealers and stores that provide
meth's under-the-kitchen-counter ingredients, attempting to throw the
first punch at a drug that has reared its head in areas surrounding
the county.

Methamphetamine - also known as meth, speed, ice, chalk, crank, fire,
glass and crystal - can be smoked, snorted, injected or taken orally
and can cause its users to lose teeth, develop sores and lose
excessive weight. It is made from ingredients such as Sudafed, nail
polish remover, Windex and iodine.

"It is really the only major hard drug that can be made in America
from start to finish," said Brett Wilson, a county prosecutor assigned
to the Washington County Narcotics Task Force.

Wilson said about 30 states have legislation that bars stores from
selling more than three packs of certain over-the-counter medication
to any one customer.

One such medication is Sudafed, which contains pseudoephedrine, the
highly addictive drug's main ingredient.

Wilson said he hopes local lawmakers will propose legislation next
year that would similarly monitor the sale of such over-the-counter
drugs.

Methamphetamine has not been seen as a major problem in the county or
in the state, he said. According to a March 2005 University of
Maryland CESAR (Center for Substance Abuse Research) analysis, eight
methamphetamine labs were seized in Maryland between January 2003 and
May 2004, compared with 15,994 nationally.

But Wilson said the drug is known to be sold in tight communities and
under police radar.

"We do see it or hear about it more now," Wilson said. "We're one of
the last areas where it isn't."

In August 2003, the task force uncovered a methamphetamine lab in
Washington County, Wilson said. The lab was being operated out of a
motor home found stopped at the parking lot of Toys R Us near Valley
Mall.

Wilson said the drug can be made inside homes, which is one reason the
task force and the local office of the Drug Enforcement Administration
anticipates it will turn up here.

In addition, meth "has always been known as a rural drug rather than
an urban drug," Wilson said.

According to the CESAR report, among nine illicit drugs most commonly
used by 10th- and 12th-grade Maryland students in 2002,
methamphetamine ranked last, while marijuana ranked first.

Children between the ages of 12 and 14 who live in rural environments
are more likely to use meth than those who live in larger cities,
according to the DEA Web site.
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