IN JEFFERSON COUNTY, WAR ON METH LABS PICKS UP PACE

With 115 raids this year through September, the county is second only to
southwest Missouri's Jasper County in the number of drug labs, ingredient
caches and meth-related dump sites discovered by police, according to
statewide crime statistics.

Officials say there are other startling figures. This year, the county's
drug task force has made about 800 arrests, most of them drug-related.

And Comtrea, the county's mental health agency, reports that for the first
time more people come to the agency seeking help with drug addiction than
alcoholism or mental illness.

A meth addict at Comtrea's Athena Adult Residential Program for drug and
alcohol addicts said that the problem was bigger than most people thought.

"In my opinion, Jefferson County is the meth capital of the world," said
the addict, whose name was withheld at Comtrea's request.

Police crank up war on meth

Police say the biggest reason why meth raids and seizures are up this year
is the Jefferson County Municipal Enforcement Group, a unit of specially
trained sheriff's deputies and municipal police officers that takes the
lead in nearly all narcotics investigations in the area.

Detective James Jones, commander of the drug task force, says that it's
difficult to tell how much meth use in the county has increased.

He said that one reason for the spike in lab raids and drug-related collars
is that police here are getting more sophisticated and better organized.

He says the biggest difference between Jefferson County and other counties
in the region is that the county has "a group of officers that's focused
almost entirely on meth.

"And like anything, the more often you do something, the better you get."

Jones says that the business of meth also seems to be changing in Jefferson
County.

He says that in previous years there were several dominant manufacturers,
so-called meth cooks, who made large quantities of the drug in relatively
sophisticated labs.

But Jones said that many of those cooks are now behind bars and that others
awaiting trial have started making smaller batches in more discreet labs.

The result is many more labs that produce smaller amounts of meth, he says.

He says there are other changes, too.

"It used to be that more people in Jefferson County cooked to make money,"
Jones said.

"Sure they used drugs, too, but they were in it to make money. But now it
seems like they're using too much of their own product, and they're cooking
(primarily) for their own addiction," he said.

As illegal drug production in Jefferson County becomes even more diffuse,
Jones said, drug police are changing how they did their jobs.

"Prevention and education are things that, in the past, local
law-enforcement sometimes has made a big deal out of," Jones said.

"We tend to just arrest people and lock them up, but that's something we're
trying to change."

Jones said police were doing more than simply telling nonusers about the
dangers of the drug.

He said the task force was training social workers, firefighters and
government officials in how to recognize meth-related supplies and
instruments in a home.

He said police officers were working with shopkeepers to teach them what to
do when a customer seemed to be buying meth ingredients.

And he said that the police force was trying to keep residents aware of
what to look for if meth labs were operating in their neighborhoods.

Counselors call treatment key

Stephen Huss, the head of Comtrea, said increased meth use in recent years
was keeping the agency busy.

But he said drugs tend to fall in and out of fashion and that Jefferson
County shouldn't overreact to the latest numbers.

"Meth is the big drug now, but in 10 years it's going to be something else;
when this problem is dealt with, there will be another one," Huss said.

"It doesn't make any sense for us to run around and say the sky is
falling," he said.

"That makes it sound like there is nothing we can do about this. There are
definitely things we can do."

Huss said that tough law enforcement could be helpful if it took worse
offenders off the street, but he said that treating addiction and its
social causes would stop the spread of all drugs, including meth.

More and more addicts are finding treatment at Comtrea's Athena Center near
De Soto. When they arrive, they're often extremely paranoid - a common
effect of the drug - and delusional from days or weeks without sleep, says
Jerry Waggoner, manager of the center.

Waggoner says that he's known meth addicts who hallucinated so much that
they thought there were armed men in fatigues patrolling the unguarded
treatment facility.

One patient, while high on meth, shot his neighbor's dog because he thought
the animal was a vicious penguin, he says.

Waggoner said that people turned to meth because of "a spectrum of
motivations" that varied from its low price and long-lasting high to its
effectiveness as a weight-loss drug.

But he said that meth, like cocaine, was a difficult drug to use
recreationally.

He said that sooner or later chronic addiction would set in.

That's why Huss and Waggoner insist that treatment is the key for beating
meth and other drugs.

They say that for most addicts there isn't anything police or courts can do
that is worse than separating them from their drug.

They say that as long as users are hooked, they'll keep making and buying
the drug, no matter how likely the risk of arrest.

The state budget crunch has been hard on Comtrea and other mental-health
agencies across Missouri, and Huss said that that eventually was going to
make it harder for area meth addicts to kick their habits.

"I'm opposed to simply throwing money at a problem, but there has to be
more money to fight substance abuse," he said.

"There will be a price, but our society needs to realize the economic costs
of doing nothing and filling up our prisons."

Addicts: Meth

is here to staySusan started smoking methamphetamine about six years ago.
She was single, in her mid-30s and an alcoholic.

For her, meth seemed to be an improvement: she wasn't getting pulled over
for driving drunk anymore, she had more energy and she was taking meth with
friends instead of drinking alone.

Eventually, the drug, which deprives the user's body of calcium and other
nutrients, caused her to develop arthritis, rotting teeth and severe back
and neck stiffness.

Years of addiction affected Susan's body in other ways, too: she has sinus
problems from snorting the drug, and scars from scores of meth injections.

Susan isn't the De Soto woman's real name. As a patient at the Athena
Center, she isn't supposed to identify herself to reporters.

Even though she has been off drugs for months, she can't stop the quick,
clipped speech and nervous, twitchy movements of a habitual meth user.

Still, she is nostalgic about her early meth experiences.

She said she originally was a weekends-only user. She said that she usually
was shy and that meth made her talkative and energetic through parties that
would last all weekend long.

Then she and her friends would start their binges on Thursday night, then
Wednesday night.

Eventually, Susan said she wasn't going to work at all.

Susan says that when she saw others in Jefferson County going through the
pattern all the time, especially among teenagers and others who defy the
stereotype of what a meth addict looks like.

But she says most people don't recognize the physical scars, compulsive
behavior and dazed look that police now recognize as meth's calling cards.

"You can see these people every day at Wal-Mart, every day at the grocery
store, but all you'll see is someone twitching or making funny neck and
hand movements," she said.

"But it's recognizable to a user."

She said police were fighting a battle they were destined to lose because
meth was too powerful, too inexpensive and too easy to make go away.

A recovering addict who worked as a lookout for meth labs in Jefferson
County agreed.

Robert, who also is getting treatment at the Athena Center, said he had
started using drugs as a child and had started smoking meth when he was 16.

He's 31 now and in rehab for the second time.

As a lookout at clandestine labs, Robert said that he would remain still
for hours and study the trees and bushes where he believed police and
federal agents were hiding.

"If the drug doesn't get you, the paranoia will kill you," said Robert, who
lives in southern Jefferson County.