METH ISSUE FRUSTRATES AUTHORITIES

Southeast Texas' justice system stepped up its battle against what
has become the most popular drug abused by users - methamphetamines
- - beginning Thursday, Nov. 30, National M e t h a m p h e t a m i n
e Awareness Day.

"We want to bring the facts to the public," said U.S. Attorney
Matthew D. Orwig of Beaumont. "Meth is a powerful poison. It kills
the user while destroying the family and environment."

Jasper Police Chief Todd Hunter, who worked on the growing meth
problem in the Dallas area while with the Addison Police Department,
said the problem would not go away by ignoring it.

"You are taking volatile chemicals and placing them in your body and
they are going to have an adverse affect," Hunter said. "Ninety
percent of the people cannot do this in a recreational setting. This
is not a recreational drug.

"It destroys the person, the family and the community and that's why
we have to deal with this as an impact drug," Hunter said. "This
drug problem will go on forever until it is eradicated."

For police agencies, drugs and their misuse seem to run through
cycles in their popularity. The miscues of methamphetamines started
in the 1970's and quickly fell off due to the volatile nature of
producing the drug.

A new method was developed, though, to produce meth and thus came
the 'cold cook' method. This method subtracted the volatile chemical
ether from the mix and reduced the bad smell from the process as well.

"In the 70's, you literally had to go on somebody's land and be away
from everybody to get away with it," Hunter said. "Now you don't
have to. You can cook up a nice batch of it next door and no one
will ever know it."

U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales directed the U.S.
Attorney's offices to make the prosecution of methamphetamine cooks
and distributors a high priority.

"We don't have any more of a problem than any other rural town in
the United S t a t e s , " Hunter said. "Some have been harder hit
than others but we are in a high density drug trafficking area so we
do have a problem with methamphetamines."

Hunter said the Jasper area is plagued by the usage of
methamphetamine, crack cocaine and the misuse of pharmaceutical drugs.

"Our problem here is the usage of the drugs but at one point here we
had a problem with the manufacturing of these drugs," Hunter said.
"All are very devastating to families and people."

He admitted that the area has seen a decrease in the formation of
the meth labs.

"We have not had a local lab in the city limits of Jasper in quite
some time," Hunter said. "That's not to say there isn't one but
typically we are seeing a change in the way people are producing
methamphetamines."

However, Hunter admitted there is a new way meth is being refined - "ice."

"Ice" is found in the form of clear, chunky crystals, similar in
appearance to rock candy. Ice is a very pure, smokable form of
methamphetamine and is more addictive than powder or tablets.

In its original form, meth is formed to 35 or 40 percent of its
purity. Super labs, as Hunter called them, are producing "ice" which
is 85 percent pure.

"That is devastating the Midwest now," Hunter said. "Texas has seen
this for some time but the Midwest is now starting to see it. Those
in the meth culture now feel that 'ice' provides a more intense high
and they are seeking that out. No one in this area can manufacture 'ice.'"

According to Hunter and police agencies, the majority of the 'ice'
movement is being funneled through the Dallas area towards East
Texas. Drug Enforcement Agency reports indicate the 'ice' is being
shipped from Arizona and Mexico to Dallas.

"It is being funneled into Dallas and then to the smaller rural
areas such as Jasper," Hunter said.

According to DEA statistics, approximately 8,600 clandestine lab
clean-ups for state and local agencies were administered in 2005 and
approximately 4,500 in 2006.

In 2006, the DEA made 6,233 methamphetaminerelated arrests and
seized 1,550 kilograms of the drug.

He pointed to a couple of cases recorded in Jasper that showed the
drugs coming from the Tyler and Dallas areas.

It is vitally important in the prosecution of meth arrests to
determine the purity of the meth recovered during an arrest. Federal
prosecution can be sought for arrests made with pure 'ice' meth in
their possession.

"It falls under what is called a high impact drug," Hunter said.
"They take these and crack cocaine because of its destruction on the
family, community and the area. Anybody we find in possession of
something that is 85 percent pure, we can go through the federal
system with it.

Hunter said even though the manufacturing of these drugs has
decreased in recent months that doesn't mean there are no meth labs
working in the county at this time.

"We do know of some possible labs out in the county," Hunter said.
"A county like this should be finding 15 to 20 labs a year because
we have a lot of rural area where someone could go out and
manufacture this stuff in confidence.

The purpose of the special day was to stress the importance of
education and public awareness, to inform the public of the dangers
of continued use and the end, show the users that they will face
prison time if they continue.

"Once people become involved in this drug culture, they look for
ways to get out," Hunter said. "These drugs are very addictive and
it makes it very hard for them to get off of them on their own. They
need a life change."

He said he has helped those who have sought his help to end their
drug usage. But unfortunately, help is not too close by.

The nearest facility to deal with meth addiction is in Beaumont and
in prisons.

"You have to have treatment for this because you can't get off of it
on your own," Hunter said. "If someone asks for help, I want to be
able to find help for them."

But in the end, those that continue to use and deal these drugs will
face arrests and the judicial system.

"I've always said you can't win the war on drugs because I don't
like that analogy," Hunter said. "A war is something that is
decisive - you have treaties. There have been drug addicts since the
beginning of time so all we can do is make a big impact.

"That is what we are trying to do here in Jasper," Hunter said. "We
are not going to completely solve the drug issues we have but we can
make an impact so that you have to look for a family that has been
impacted by this drug. Right now, you would be hard pressed to find
a family that hasn't been impacted by drug usage. I want to reverse that."