THE ADDICTIVE POWER OF METHAMPHETAMINE MAKES IT DIFFERENT FROM OTHER
ILLEGAL DRUGS

TUSCOLA - Police and political leaders are battling the rising tide
of methamphetamine abuse, which has left some Central Illinois
communities swamped by the wreckage of broken lives.

Douglas County Sheriff Charlie McGrew said half of the county's
criminal cases are related to methamphetamine. He has seen addicts in
his jail, who have lost everything they had, including jobs, homes
and businesses.

"Every waking moment is devoted to obtaining meth to support their
habits," McGrew said. "I have heard numerous addicts say that using
one time or two times captures them and keeps them in the hold of drug."

Meth addicts are costly to incarcerate, especially because of their
need for extensive dental care.

"Their teeth rot and their teeth chip off," McGrew said, adding some
addicts have one-half or one-third of each tooth. "They grind their
teeth; that is a symptom of meth use.

"One young lady, in her early 30s, she had such poor dental hygiene.
She had two teeth left. She lost all her other teeth. Deterioration
of her dental hygiene was within 1A 1/2 years of use."

A member of the East Central Illinois drug enforcement task force,
McGrew said the rural region it covers - Douglas, Coles, Shelby and
Moultrie counties - has been one of the most active in manufacturing
methamphetamine.

A powerfully addictive stimulant that creates a feeling of euphoria
and illusion of limitless energy, methamphetamine has become
especially popular in Central and Southern Illinois. A white,
bitter-tasting powder, methamphetamine is smoked, snorted, injected
or taken orally.

McGrew, a former Illinois State Police narcotics investigator, said
methamphetamine poses a special challenge to police. Other drugs,
such as cocaine and marijuana, are profit-driven, which translates to
large bundles of cash seized by police, to be used for law enforcement.

"Meth is addiction-driven," McGrew said. Addicts are mostly making it
themselves, to serve their own habits. Excess meth is sometimes
traded by meth producers for products to make the next batch.

As an indication of meth's prevalence in this region, of the 1,189
meth labs seized in the state by police in 2005, more than half of
them, 633, were in Central Illinois.

Of the 454 prison admissions for methamphetamine in fiscal year 2005,
229 were from Central Illinois, just more than half. There are many
more people imprisoned for offenses related to methamphetamine use,
such as burglary and retail theft.

Perhaps the most disturbing trend is the steady increase of meth use
during the past decade.

When Master Sgt. Bruce Liebe of the Illinois State Police was
assigned to the Drug Enforcement Agency task force in 1997, meth was
just getting a foothold in the state.

Within three years the number of meth labs seized in the state spiked
from 27 to 487. By 2004, it reached its top level of 1,303, with
1,280 of those in Central and Southern Illinois.

In 2005, 5,252 people underwent treatment for meth abuse in the
state, skyrocketing from 362 in 1997. In Central Illinois, 1,933
underwent treatment in 2005, up from 186 in 1997.

Liebe, the state police meth program coordinator, said he believes
meth has remained mostly a rural drug for several reasons. Cocaine, a
less potent stimulant, remains the drug of choice in the urban areas
because "illicit substance users are often creatures of habit."

Liebe said gangs, which control the crack cocaine trade, could also
be keeping meth out of cities, such as Decatur.

"With meth, if I get addicted to that, I can produce my own meth,"
Liebe said. The number of lab seizures this year is just slightly
down from recent years, although some of the labs are considerably smaller.

Law enforcement officials had hoped to see more dramatic results from
the enactment of a law that limits the purchase amounts of drugs
containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, the essential ingredient
used in meth manufacture. The law was effective Jan. 15.

"We are concerned, because other states have seen drops," Liebe said.

But state Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, who introduced the bill in
the senate, said the law is having a positive effect in some
counties. Officials in Lawrenceville told him meth cases have
plummeted in Lawrence County because manufacturers cannot obtain the
ingredients they need at local stores.

"These meth cookers don't want their name on a written record,"
Righter said. "In most parts of my district, there is a drop of the
number of labs."

Righter, who has been working with police and community groups to
battle methamphetamine, said the drug's cost has been high,
especially in lost lives and productivity. The costs to taxpayers is
also high, with federal, state, county and city budgets struggling to
cope with the cost of services for police, courts, prosecutors and
treatment specialists.

"This is a tremendous problem, different than any problem we've ever
had," Righter said. "It is ridiculously easy to make."

California, which has a decade head start on the Midwest, has seen
methamphetamine eclipse other substance abuse problems.

"For people requesting treatment, it has now surpassed alcohol and
heroin as a primary drug problem," said Dr. Jeffery Wilkins, director
of addiction psychiatry for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Meth addicts lose the need for reinforcement that others normally
receive from family members and through work, social relationships
and hobbies, Wilkins said. "Those are replaced by the drive for meth."

Wilkins said there are about 500,000 meth users in California, with
about one-third of the people arrested in some cities testing
positive for meth.

While men outnumber women two to one as abusers of other drugs, such
as heroin and cocaine, there is a 50-50 ratio between the genders in
methamphetamine abuse in California, Wilkins said. It has also spread
to young people, with about one in 12 high school juniors reporting
that they have tried meth.