DEA SEES FLAVORED METH USE

Trend May Be Effort to Lure Young Market

Reports of candy-flavored methamphetamine are emerging around the
nation, stirring concern among police and abuse-prevention experts
that drug dealers are marketing the drug to younger people.

The flavored crystals are available in California, Nevada,
Washington, Idaho, Texas, New Mexico, Missouri and Minnesota,
according to intelligence gathered by Drug Enforcement Administration
agents from informants, users, local police and drug counselors, DEA
spokesman Steve Robertson said.

"Drug traffickers are trying to lure in new customers, no matter what
their age, by making the meth seem less dangerous," he said.

Methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant, is usually a white or
brownish, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that dissolves in water.
It is usually smoked or snorted.

Among the new flavors are strawberry, known as "Strawberry Quick,"
chocolate, cola and other sodas, Robertson said. One agent reported a
red methamphetamine that had been marketed as a powdered form of an
energy drink, he said.

A patrol officer who stopped a car on Feb. 13 in a rural area of
Greene County, Mo., seized a bag of "strawberry meth" from a female
passenger, said Capt. Randy Gibson of the Greene County Sheriff's
Department. The seized drug had a slight strawberry smell to it, he said.

Greene County deputies have seized colored meth before, Gibson said.
Several years ago, blue methamphetamine, known as "Smurf dope"
circulated in the area, Gibson said.

"It was nothing more than one of the local meth cooks taking a great
deal of pride in his purity," Gibson said. "He ground up blue chalk
to color it so he could market it as his."

Carson City, Nev., Undersheriff Steve Albertson said dealers often
try to make their meth distinctive with color or a catchy name as a
way to brand it. "Then they'll spread the word that this meth,
whatever color it is, is the best kind of meth there is," he said.

The appearance of "Strawberry Quick" in Greene County came less than
two weeks after the Nevada Department of Public Safety issued a
bulletin about flavored methamphetamine seized during an apartment
search Jan. 27 in Carson City.

"It seems to have progressed very quickly from west to east," Gibson said.

"Strawberry Quick," the bulletin said, "is popular among new users
who snort it because the flavoring can cut down on the taste.
Teenagers who have been taught meth is bad may see this flavored
version as less harmful. 'Strawberry Quick' is designed for the younger crowd."

As methamphetamine's popularity has waned, drug dealers have to
create new ways to market it, said Scott Burns, deputy drug czar for
state, local and tribal affairs for the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy. The number of people 12 and older who
used methamphetamine for the first time in the previous year
decreased from 318,000 people in 2004 to 192,000 people in 2005,
according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health by the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

"The traffickers know the word is out about what a horrible drug this
is," Burns said.

"They are having a tough time selling this product, especially to
young people. What do people in marketing do when they have a tough
time selling a product? They have to come up with some sort of gimmick."