Pubdate: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL) Copyright: 2005 St. Petersburg Times Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/letters/ Website: http://www.sptimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419 Author: Saundra Amrhein, Times Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) METH MAKES MARK IN FLORIDA As the potent crystal meth infiltrates the gay community and middle- class neighborhoods, Florida is reported to be one of the key distribution points. It was Christmas Eve 2003 and the St. Petersburg man was feeling lonely and sad. So the man, who is gay, logged onto the Internet, searching for gay personal ads. What he read sent his heart racing: someone offering PnP. It was code, he knew, for "party and play," sex and drugs, which usually meant crystal methamphetamine, the drug that seemed to chase him across the country. "I didn't think I would ever get clear of (crystal meth) out in California," said the computer engineer, now 40. "I had to get as far away from meth or it would destroy me." Within hours, the HIV-infected man was at the home of the Tampa man who wrote the ad, shooting up meth, having unprotected sex. He is in therapy, though still using crystal meth, and spoke to the St. Petersburg Times on the condition that his identity not be used for fear of losing his job. He is one of thousands of people in Florida discovering the arrival of crystal meth - a dangerous, highly addictive drug that has law enforcement and health officials mobilizing. Especially worrisome to health experts is crystal meth's suspected role in the increasing number of HIV cases in Florida and other states. Considered more addictive than crack and purer than the diluted version of meth cooked in rural areas, crystal meth began showing up locally a few years ago. Mexican drug cartels make it in "superlabs" and funnel it to Florida through commercial airplanes, the mail and illegal immigrants in cars with secret compartments, according to federal officials. This area is now a key distribution point. While the drug is becoming popular with a broad, often middle-class, swath of the population, public health officials particularly fear crystal meth's inroads among gay men. The drug's staying power fuels 72- hour sleepless binges, during which users, stripped of all inhibitions, will have unprotected sex with multiple partners. "There is a high percentage of unprotected sex, and we know that some portion of that is related around the use of crystal meth," said Tom Liberti, chief of the Bureau of HIV/AIDS in the state Department of Health. The Internet, he says, has hastened the hookups. "You put all these pieces together," Liberti said, "and it's really a prescription or combination for an increase not only in men having addictions to crystal meth, but a public health implication for disease." * * * The Tampa Bay area straddles two meth worlds. Dirty or crank meth for years has been cooked in rural areas of Polk, Pasco and Hillsborough counties, law enforcement officials say. In "nuisance labs" in rural areas, addicts use their mobile homes to make meth, mixing highly toxic chemicals with key ingredients of pseudoephedrine obtained from store-bought cold tablets. The end product is diluted, between 20 percent to 30 percent pure, said U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Joseph Schleigh. He is the group supervisor for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Methamphetamine Task Force, which started in 1999. Addicts using crank meth typically make just enough for themselves or friends. Crystal meth, by contrast, is made in "superlabs" both in Mexico and California, and is far more pure, anywhere from 80 percent up to the high 90s, Schleigh said. It's more expensive than crank and appeals to a clientele of higher incomes, he said. Also, crystal meth's highs last days longer than crank and cocaine. Polk County was once known as the meth capital of the state thanks to its large number of so-called mom-and-pop meth labs. But within the past few years, the locally produced meth has been replaced by imported crystal meth, or the even purer kind called ice, said Lt. Steve Ward of the Polk County Sheriff's Office. "Our seizures in the last year of regular meth on the street have decreased, but our seizures of ice have gone up dramatically," Ward said. In 2003, 101 pounds of meth were seized in Polk County, he said. Of that, 6 pounds were crystal meth. Last year, 85 pounds of meth were seized, and 70 percent of that was crystal, he said. Crank meth sells for about $5,000 to $8,000 per pound , he said. Crystal meth sells for between $14,000 and $18,000 per pound. A gram, enough for up to four doses, costs about $150, Ward said. But the drug carries another price: crime, paranoia, depression, severe mood swings. "We've had numerous homicides that have been attributed to people on meth," Ward said. * * * Officials trace the route of crystal meth to Atlanta, a major hub for traffickers bringing it to the southeast from California and Mexico. Some of the runners are illegal immigrants who do nothing but sell drugs, while others try to blend in with immigrant laborers who come to Florida for agriculture or construction jobs. "It seems like the normal migrants, they are hard workers, they can't afford the stuff that these drug dealers can afford," Ward said. "They can't drive the fancy cars and some of the nice clothes and the jewelry and that kind of thing. If you're out doing surveillance, it doesn't take very long to pick out who you're looking for." Suppliers drive crystal meth from Atlanta to Tampa, "and from there it's being mined out to cities in Florida," said Jeannette Moran, spokeswoman with the DEA in Miami. Behind the regional suppliers are the Mexican drug cartels, federal officials say. According to an investigation by The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Mexico's imports of cold medicine carrying pseudoephedrine has jumped to 224 tons from 66 tons in the past five years - double what the country needs to meet the legitimate demands of cold and allergy sufferers. The newspaper report, released earlier this month, found that meth production in Mexico rose after the United States and Canada cracked down on companies that sell the cold pills. The number of Mexican-run "superlabs" found in California fell from 244 in 2001 to 53 in 2004. But the amount of meth found moving across the border from Mexico to the United States grew from 2,600 pounds in 2002 to 4,500 pounds in 2004, the newspaper reported. Tampa police have noticed a surge in crystal meth possession and distribution busts the past six months, said Tampa police Sgt. Bill Todd. "Meth has long been popular in the gay community, but I think it's starting to pop up in the yuppie communities as well," Todd said. "It's being abused by all people and all walks of life," says David Waller, a special agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in Tampa. The consequences, he predicted, will be grim. "I think the problems associated with methamphetamine," Waller said, "will be more devastating than those associated with crack." * * * Marc Cohen was visiting a friend's store on Miami Beach one day in 1990 when a strange package arrived from Atlanta, addressed to an employee who was off that day. They opened it. "It was all these packets of crystally stuff," he said. "Someone said, "Oh, my God, that's crystal,"' Cohen said. "I never even heard of it." Cohen, president of the nonprofit United Foundation for AIDS in Miami, said by the late 1990s, the drug was becoming popular at Miami clubs and the party circuit. "By 1997 and 1998, when HIV medicine became more available, behavior changed again, and that's when (crystal) took off," Cohen said. With successful treatments, an HIV diagnosis was no longer a death sentence for many. Patients were returning to the workforce, the gym, the party scene. The medication led to a relaxed attitude toward safe sex, reversing years of education and caution against risky behavior. Crystal meth just made matters worse, Cohen said. Both factors play a role, he said, in the rising number of HIV cases among gay men in Florida, mirroring the same trend in cities like San Francisco and New York. In Florida, between 1999 and 2004, the number of HIV cases among gay white men increased by 40 percent, and by 46 percent among Hispanic gay men, said Spencer Lieb, senior epidemiologist with the Bureau of HIV/AIDS with the Florida Department of Health. During that time, the number of HIV cases among gay black men rose by 2 percent, he said. Crystal meth has not been as popular among gay black men as it has with other men. Health officials say they can't directly connect the rising numbers to crystal meth, but they think it is playing a large role, Lieb said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is conducting a study of two dozen cities, including Fort Lauderdale and Miami, to analyze the connection between HIV and risky behavior, including the use of crystal meth. * * * The St. Petersburg computer engineer didn't stop using meth after Christmas Eve 2003. The urge, he said, is irresistible. "You feel like you're flying." He had been in a seven-year committed relationship, but his partner died of AIDS in 1995, he said. The loss threw him into a deep depression, and he ended up hooked on meth. He began having sex with strangers and not using condoms, even though he told them at the outset that he had HIV, contracted from his late partner. Crystal meth helped him forget all his problems. "Growing up, you learned that being gay was wrong, it's a sin," he said. "Meth helps you override that." It also made him paranoid. He quit a job that paid $35 an hour, and was fired from another. Soon he faced eviction from a nice apartment because he was skipping rent payments to buy meth. That's when he ran from crystal meth, moving to Florida in 1996. He used meth again in January and February, 2004, each time finding it through the Internet chat rooms and partying with men at local hotels or bathhouses. Last summer he sought treatment, but said he slips and uses at least once a month. He remains in therapy, still trying to learn how to live without meth. "I just want my life back. I want a life that's normal." Times researchers Cathy Wos and Carolyn Edds contributed to this report. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek