AREA POLICE FEAR ARRIVAL OF 'SCARY' METHAMPHETAMINE

At first glance, it looked like a box of cookie dough. Mailed from
California to a Flint man's home this year, a box seized by police
contained $100,000 worth of methamphetamine, the drug the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration says poses the greatest threat in America.

A relative rarity on the Genesee County drug scene, methamphetamine
has been an uncommon find for police departments accustomed to busting
crack dealers and marijuana growers.

But police say the Flint bust in January could be a signal the drug is
gaining a stronger foothold in the area - a frightening prospect to
the leader of the county's narcotics team.

"This is a very scary drug," said state police Lt. Dennis Woizeschke,
section commander for the Flint Area Narcotics Group. "It's here, and
it's only going to get bigger."

Why is methamphetamine so scary?

Priced on par with cocaine but with a longer-lasting high,
methamphetamine presents unique challenges for police.

Known on the street as crystal, crank and speed, it can keep its users
up for days at a time, leading to bizarre and sometimes violent behavior.

Popular mainly with low-income whites between age 25 and45,
methamphetamine can be smoked, snorted, injected or eaten. Crack is
smoked, while other drugs, such as heroin, also can be used in
multiple ways.

Unlike a crack high that might last an hour, a single hit of
methamphetamine can produce a high that lasts for days.

Heavy users, known as "tweakers," might go days without sleep and fall
into severe depression marked by paranoia and heightened aggression.

"Tweakers turn into zombies," said DEA spokesman David Jacobson.
"They're like the walking dead."

While marijuana and cocaine suppliers must grow their own drugs and
figure out covert ways to harvest and transport them, methamphetamine
is a synthetic drug capable of being cooked up in a bathroom with a
host of highly toxic chemicals.

A small methamphetamine lab can turn a home into a toxic waste site
requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in environmental cleanup
costs, police said.

Mixing the wrong chemicals or using a bad recipe has the potential to
turn a methamphetamine lab into a scorched patch of dirt given the
potential for explosion in methamphetamine production, police said.

Package of cookie dough

A sign that methamphetamine could be increasing in popularity here
came when police were tipped off that a major shipment might be headed
for Flint.

After tracking a package from an address in California, police opened
the box and found a solid pound of methamphetamine.

"It looked kind of like cookie dough," Woizeschke said.

Valued between $15,000 and $30,000 uncut, the shipment could have been
resold to users for about $100,000, he said.

Police arrested the Flint man who received the package but have
refused comment on other details while they continue to
investigate.

Woizeschke said the drug already has become a fixture in other parts
of Michigan.

State drug teams busted nine methamphetamine production labs in
southwest Michigan last year and shut down two more this year, state
police Lt. Scott Nichols said.

"Methamphetamine makes up about 80 percent of our cases," said
Nichols, who heads a state police narcotics team in Kalamazoo and St.
Joseph counties.

Methamphetamine has traditionally been most popular in California and
southwestern states where it had its heyday in the '60s and '70s when
motorcycle gangs were the drug's main traffickers, Jacobson said.

While crack is fairly easy to make, a batch of methamphetamine
requires more sophisticated chemical reactions. It can be made from
common household items, including cold medicine tablets, lighter
fluid, lye, drain cleaner, paint thinner and lithium batteries.

"You can make it in your own back yard," Woizeschke
said.

The hazardous materials used to make methamphetamine force police to
take extreme precautions when busting labs, Nichols said.

Groundwater near labs is often contaminated by illicit chemists
dumping waste into toilets, bathtubs, sinks and yards.

Self-contained breathing units and biohazard suits are required
equipment for police officers to prevent permanent liver damage that
could result from breathing in the toxic chemicals used in production,
Nichols said.

"These labs are no different than paint factories or other places that
end up on environmental cleanup lists," he said. "They busted 500 meth
labs in Kansas last year. That means 500 new hazardous materials sites."

Like other drugs, methamphetamine also is linked to upswings in crimes
such as robbery and burglary, he said.

"It's highly addictive," Nichols said. "People who do it want to do
more of it, and to do it you have to have money."

Crack is still king

A December bust at a rave party in Flint turned up a half-tablet of
the methamphetamine-based Ecstasy, but police say that for the most
part they encounter only tiny amounts of methamphetamine.

"Sometimes we don't even know what it is until we send it to the lab,"
said Sgt. James McLellan. "We just don't see it that much."

It is impossible to pinpoint the exact number of drug houses in Flint,
but the city's special operations unit conducts 35 to 40 raids a month.

Crack and marijuana remain the most popular products. Fewer houses
sell illegal pills and heroin, police said.

"In Flint, crack is still king," said Sgt. Mark Blough, who works with
McLellan in Flint's special operations drug unit.

There are no statistics on the number of illegal drug users in the
county. Private drug treatment centers are not obligated to report
admissions to the county. Many addicts do not seek treatment.

Of 2,819 people who sought substance treatment in 1998 through the
Genesee County Health Department, 617 listed marijuana and hashish as
their primary addiction, followed by 549 who listed crack cocaine.

Almost half of those admitted - 1,345 - cited alcohol as their primary
addiction.

Methamphetamine is included in the county's "other substance"
category, which accounted for only 33 of the 2,819 admissions.

"I've heard for the past four years that meth is on its way," said
William Harshman, administrative director of Flint Odyssey House. "But
we're still not seeing it."

Of the 936 addiction admissions to Odyssey House over the past six
years, only about one-tenth of 1 percent have been for amphetamine
abuse, Harshman said.

Counselors for other treatment programs also report seeing few
methamphetamine users.

Brighton Hospital, a private substance abuse treatment center in
Livingston County, treats about a half-dozen methamphetamine addicts
each year. Most of them became addicted to the drug while living out
West or turned to it as a weight-loss agent.

As the body builds up a tolerance to the drug, methamphetamine users
can find themselves requiring greater amounts to maintain that boost.

The resulting level of psychosis that comes with the extra energy
parallels schizophrenia, said Don Daly, senior physician's assistant
at Brighton.

One hospital patient recounted to Daly an episode where he hung by his
hands from the roof of Cobo Hall in Detroit while clenching a rose
between his teeth.

"He said he kept hallucinating colors and thinking he could float,"
Daly said.

The 'next big thing'?

How big the methamphetamine problem becomes in Genesee County could
depend on whether suppliers find a market for it here, police said.

"There's not a lot of word-of-mouth with methamphetamine," Blough
said. "For $10 to $20, users can a get a quick, cheap high with crack."

Unlike drugs that have an established base of users, it is difficult
for fringe drugs to gain popularity if supplies are limited, police
said.

Aaron Kelser, a Flint man who has used methamphetamine, said the drug
is popular with users but is only available on a sporadic basis.

Drug cartels that control narcotics distribution could play a major
role in the amount of methamphetamine available in Genesee County,
according to the DEA's Jacobson.

Moving methamphetamine along distribution routes already set up for
cocaine, heroin and marijuana is relatively easy, Jacobson said.

Mexican cartels already have large-scale methamphetamine labs feeding
into the western United States, while labs in San Diego and Tucson,
Ariz., are believed to be shipping several kilos of the drug into
Michigan on a monthly basis, Jacobson said.

Whether those cartels will mount a widespread expansion of the
methamphetamine market in the Genesee County area remains to be seen,
Jacobson said.

The lack of strong links between the state and western suppliers has
made it difficult for the drug to make major breakthroughs in
Michigan, he said.

Methamphetamine use in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, however, is on the
upswing, Jacobson said.

FANG's Woizeschke wants to be ready if methamphetamine does become
"the next big thing" in the Genesee County area.

Local police are already working with drug units in southwest Michigan
to track shipping patterns and are keeping an eye on Toronto, which
Woizeschke said is already dealing with a heavy methamphetamine problem.

While police continue to look for evidence of methamphetamine in the
area, the waiting game goes on.

"We know it's here," said Chris Flores, executive director of
Community Recovery Services in Flint. "It's just a matter of time
before we start seeing its effects."