METH A GROWING PROBLEM IN GREATER VALLEY AREA

Donnie R. Marshall, acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement
Agency, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 1999.
In that testimony he described the drug as "one of the most
significant law enforcement and social issues facing our nation today
... devastating ... pos[ing] a grave problem to communities [and]
major problems to state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as
the DEA."

Crank, chalk, zip, go-fast, crystal and quartz -- it's all the same
thing. The proper name is methamphetamine, an amphetamine derivative
that affects the brain and spinal cord.

It is very potent and very dangerous.

Methamphetamine, developed in the earlier part of the 20th century,
was actually originally used in a variety of medications and in the
treatment of narcolepsy and obesity. Truck drivers would use it to
stay awake on long hauls, college students to keep alert and athletes
to stay "on edge."

By the early 1970s, however, doctors were rarely prescribing the drug,
having long recognized its inherent dangers, but abuse of
methamphetamine became widespread with clandestine "laboratories"
opening across Central America and the western United States.

"Methamphetamine is, in fact, a very simple drug to produce," Marshall
said in his July testimony. "A user can go to retail stores and easily
purchase the vast majority of the ingredients necessary to manufacture
the drug. Items such as rock salt, battery acid, red phosphorous, road
flares, pool acid and iodine crystals can be utilized to substitute
for some of the necessary chemicals.

"A clandestine lab operator," Marshall continued, "can utilize
relatively common items such as Mason jars, coffee filters, hot
plates, pressure cookers, pillowcases, plastic tubing, gas cans, etc.
to substitute for sophisticated laboratory equipment."

Like a host of illegal drugs, methamphetamine makes the user "feel
good," with one notable exception: the effects seem to last longer.
High school and college students will take the drug before attending
an all-night dance party, also called "raves," in order to stay energized.

Again, like so many other stimulants, meth induces a false sense of
euphoria and exhilaration while at the same time causing
hyperactivity, a loss of appetite and insomnia. High dosages often
result in nervousness, irritability and paranoia. What's worse, the
downside of meth can be deadly. Users frequently become depressed and,
thus, do not eat well, sleep or properly take care of themselves. This
in turn leads to malnutrition, weight loss, a lower resistance to a
variety of diseases and mental illness. Tragically, the end result of
meth use is often death.

But the nightmare does not end here. The user is not the only one
harmed by "crystal and ice." Usually the operator of a "mom and pop"
meth lab is not the most brilliant person in the world and, given the
chemicals being used, fires and explosions can result during the
manufacturing process.

"This is dangerous stuff," Troup County Sheriff Donny Turner said
shortly after a November 1999 meth raid. "People use standard
household chemicals that you can buy at the supermarket to make these
drugs. But during the process of cooking the meth, the chemicals
interact, causing fumes that are explosive and deadly. The process has
killed innocent people as well as the people dealing drugs in other
areas of the county."

Captain Tommy Weldon, who heads the Chambers County Drug Task Force,
added to that warning. "Manufacturing of meth is dangerous mainly
because of precursor chemicals, like ether and methanol, that are
used. They are very volatile."

Weldon said there have been "several explosions" in the Chambers
County area in which storage buildings, workshops and even a couple of
mobile homes have blown up. In all, agents with the CCDTF have
"busted" 22 labs in Chambers County since July 1999 and have aided
other law enforcement agencies in shutting down over 20 labs in
surrounding areas.

As if this were not enough, though, the "go-fast" nightmare continues
even further.

"The threats posed by clandestine labs are not limited to fire,
explosion, poison gas, drug abuse and booby traps," Marshall warned.
"The chemical contamination of the hazardous waste contained in these
labs also poses a serious danger to our nations' environment. Each
pound of methamphetamine generated in a clandestine lab can result in
as much as five pounds of toxic waste, which clandestine lab operators
routinely dump into our nation's streams, rivers and sewage systems to
cover up the evidence of their illegal operations."

With so many inherent dangers in the manufacture and use of
methamphetamine, many people just becoming aware of this drug are
naturally curious what signs to look for in order to know whether
someone -- a friend, family member or neighbor -- is using and/or
making meth.

Weldon advises that an unusual amount of restlessness in the person,
or that person staying up for two or three days at a time, or engaging
in activities when they would normally be sleeping are certainly
reasons to be suspicious. Meth users will also typically be fidgety
and need to constantly be doing something.

Heavy users tend to be very paranoid, thinking everybody is out to get
them, according to Weldon, who reports encountering this tendency time
and again. "They think everybody's working for the police. Every car
that rides by their house or every noise they hear outside -- they
think it's the police."

"We've had meth users actually tell us they knew we were watching
them," Weldon continued. "They'll say they've seen us fly over their
house in hot air balloons or other aircraft. We've had them tell us
they knew we had been watching them in their homes through the walls
with special devices and that we had been listening to their phone
conversations, etc."

Meth users typically believe they have a heightened sense of awareness
but, according to Weldon, it is actually only paranoia.

Signs of manufacturing meth include: strong chemical-type odors such
as that of ether and ammonia, people constantly going in and out of a
house or other building where you would not expect to see a high level
of traffic, and large quantities of different chemicals frequently
being taken into a home or other building where that would be
considered unusual.

Weldon also said another telling sign of meth manufacturing is seeing
people come outside their home or workshop to smoke and consistently
standing away from the building to do so. "It could very well be
they're moving away from the chemicals so they don't blow anything
up."

Anyone who may have information about the manufacturing of
methamphetimine should contact their local law enforcement agency
immediately. Anyone suspecting a problem with methamphetamine and/or
other drug use may contact the National Drug Information Treatment and
Referral Hotline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).