MAP's index is at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1500/a04.html A Madness Called Meth: To Our Readers METH THREATENS FABRIC OF CENTRAL VALLEY LIFE To Our Readers: In your copy of today's Bee, you will find an 18-page special report, "A Madness Called Meth." This report is the result of an unprecedented joint effort by journalists at The McClatchy Company's California newspapers in Fresno, Sacramento and Modesto. The project was undertaken by these newspapers because the Central Valley has been, and continues to be, more adversely affected by the methamphetamine menace than any region in the nation. For the past six months, a team of Bee reporters, photographers, artists and editors investigated how the Valley, known for its agricultural abundance, has become a "source nation" as well for meth, not only producing (and consuming) the drug in mass quantities, but supplying it to other parts of the country. Law enforcement officials estimate that as much as 80% of all meth in the United States comes from California. Much of that meth is made in the 17-county Central Valley from Redding to Bakersfield. More than 95% of all large meth labs busted nationally during 1999 were in this state. This report, however, is more than a look at the manufacture of what federal drug czar Barry McCaffrey calls "the worst drug that has ever hit America." It also intimately details the human suffering associated with the nation's fastest growing illegal drug. Seduced by meth's low cost and lingering highs, users of the ferociously addictive drug face the prospect of premature aging, rotting teeth and, eventually, heart damage and psychoses. Still, it is the Valley's children who may be most victimized by meth. Many have been found at potentially explosive meth cooking sites, exposed to lethal chemicals and fumes. Thousands of others have meth-using parents who neglect, abuse and, sometimes, kill them. And, if their parents are arrested, these children often wind up in foster care, many permanently. But the nightmare doesn't end there. The toxic and hazardous chemicals used in making meth have contaminated property, soil and water throughout the Central Valley, and the potential costs to clean up lab-waste dump sites -- some 400 were found in the state in 1999 alone -- are staggering. The problem is further exacerbated by the fact California does not regulate such clean-up, leaving it instead for counties to set varying, if any, standards. The story of meth is both troubling and infuriating, and you may find some of the material in this special report offensive. We tell this story in all of its disturbing detail, however, because we believe that if we are ever to solve this problem, we must first fully understand it.
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