Pubdate: 6 Feb 1999 
Source: Economist, The (UK) 
Copyright: 1999 The Economist Newspaper Limited
Contact:  http://www.economist.com/ 

DRUG ABUSE. HIGH IN THE HEARTLAND

DES MOINES, IOWA

THE drug tsar, Barry McCaffrey, is unequivocal: "The worst drug ever to hit
America is methamphetamine." He may well be right. Methamphetaminemeth,
speed, ice, glass, crank, poor man's cocaineis a powerful stimulant that
affects the body in much the same way as cocaine. But it is cheaper than
coke, produces a longer high, and is spreading like wildfire.

Although total drug abuse in America has fallen steadily since the
mid-1980s, and cocaine's share is down 75% from its peak in 1985, the
number of methamphetamine overdoses and deaths in the United States tripled
between 1992 and 1996. It has taken hold especially in rural areas where
other drugs are less widely available and "cookers" can manufacture the
stuff in clandestine laboratories. When Vice-President Al Gore visited Iowa
in January, he spoke about three issues: pigs, Social Security and
methamphetamine.

What makes this stuff so nasty? To begin with, a $50 investment at the
supermarket can produce $3,000-worth of methamphetamine. The active
ingredient is either ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, both of which are found
in over-the-counter cold medicines. "Cookers" use products such as
drain-cleaner, lithium batteries and engine-starter fluid to transform one
of the chemical precursors into a powder that can be smoked, snorted,
injected or drunk with a soda. The recipe is on the Internet. The Iowa
Division of Narcotics Enforcement busted 320 meth labs in 1998, up from 63
in 1997 (see chart).

Meth metabolises slowly, and can stay active in the body for up to 12
hours. The result is a prolonged burst of energy and strength. Many
mid-western abusers are workers trying to get through a double shift at the
meat-packing plant or a long haul in the lorry. High-school students are a
growing market: the girls try meth to lose weight, the boys to enhance
their athletic and sexual prowess.

Cooking meth may be cheap and easy, but there is nothing safe about it. A
quart of ether (drained from cans of starter fluid) can explode with the
force of five sticks of dynamite. According to Mr McCaffrey, one in six
meth labs explodes or burns up each year. Those that do not combust are
just as dangerous. Every pound of methamphetamine leaves behind five to six
pounds of toxic waste. Iowa law-enforcement officials spend roughly $5,000
cleaning up every lab they close down.

Meth addicts become paranoid, delusional and violent. Cookers tend to be
heavily armed; their laboratories are sometimes booby-trapped. A recent
study in Iowa found that methamphetamine is a contributing factor in 80% of
all domestic violence cases. Hospital emergency rooms must deal with
overdoses in which the abuser stays psychotic for hours.

Despite the boom in home brewing, Iowa officials estimate that 80% of the
methamphetamine sold in the state is still being smuggled in from Mexico or
the south-west, where it is manufactured in giant "superlabs". This trade
used to be run by motorcycle gangs, but in the late 1980s Mexican drug
rings began moving much larger quantities of meth along existing drug routes.

In an effort to stop it, state and federal authorities have increased the
penalties for making, using and selling methamphetamine. Shopkeepers help
by limiting sales of cold-medicine or tipping off the authorities when
customers make suspicious purchases. One "cooker" was busted in Des Moines
after he bought $500-worth of lithium batteries. Iowa is running television
commercials warning against the false allure of methamphetamine. "We can't
arrest our way out of the problem," says one top drug-enforcement official.
The best way is still to stop people before they start.

Perhaps the most worrying part is not where methamphetamine has got to in
America, but where it can still go. Outside California, America's big
cities have been largely unaffected. In 1998, the Drug Enforcement
Administration's office in Springfield, Illinois, made nearly ten times as
many amphetamine arrests as the Chicago office. "I'm surprised it hasn't
come yet," says Joseph Vanacora, the agent in charge of the Chicago office.
It probably will, and the result could be devastating. 
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