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The "meth king" is gone, but his subjects remain.

They're a restive, craving bunch, and they must be
ruled. They will search in agony for another king, or
queen, or prince from hell.

Any nitwit will do, so long as he or she cooks up
methamphetamine like Michael W. Duncan. Law enforcement in
Jackson County and beyond exulted this week when Duncan,
38, pleaded guilty in federal court to manufacturing
the drug.

"Hopefully, getting Michael Duncan off the street
represents a turning point in the local meth wars," said
U.S. Attorney Steve Hill.

Call me pessimistic, but I suspect the war will rage
on. The subjects will demand it.

Without doubt, Duncan's dethronement is great news.
It'll be 20 years, at least, before he mixes another
batch of his poison. That is, unless he gets ahold of
the right ingredients and cooks meth in the sink of the
prison kitchen.

Given Duncan's history, that seems a real possibility.

The man is a spacedout pain in the neck who used a
network of associates and wads of cash to stay out of
jail for the last two years. He posted a $ 1 million
appeal bond last summer, just four hours after he was
sentenced to 15 years in prison in Jackson County Circuit
Court. A week later he was arrested in a WalMart while
purchasing the ingredients for methamphetamine.

He was severely burned, and a companion was killed,
when a storage shed in Henry County exploded in
September. Authorities said the shed was suspected of
being a meth lab.

Once released from the hospital, Duncan pressed on.
He was arrested in January after he set up a meth lab
north of the river.

Finally, a federal magistrate ordered him held without
bond. He now faces 20 years to life in prison without
parole.

"If nothing else, this will let these other cooks and
distributors know that nobody is safe from arrest and
prosecution," said Independence Police Lt. Dennie
Jensen, who is in charge of the drug enforcement unit.

Score one for law enforcement. Lord knows they work
hard for their victories. It's no fun sneaking through
underbrush and confronting armed drug dealers, who might
be crazed by their own product, to bust a meth lab that
could blow up at any moment.

But the real battle is for the hearts and minds of the
users. On that front, there seems to be little progress.

Something is very wrong when large numbers of people
are so starved for thrills or so desperate to escape or
alter their emotions that they'll ingest a drug made with
acetone, lye, red phosphorous, Coleman fuel and paint
thinners.

The great lesson of methamphetamine is that America's
drug problem is not rooted in Colombia or Southeast Asia
or any foreign land.

The Drug Enforcement Administration could seal every
border, screen out drugs from every dock and airport. It
wouldn't matter.

Americans will cook the junk in their bathtubs.

Preston Washington, clinical director for the Kansas
City office of the National Council on Alcoholism and
Drug Dependence, compares society's need for drugs to a
boiling pot.

Law enforcement keeps a hand on the lid, trying to
keep it from spilling over. "Sometimes they can push it
down, but it's always rising, always boiling," Washington
said.

Until people learn to deal with life on its own terms,
unmasked by alcohol, marijuana, cocaine,
methamphetamines or any other drug of the moment, the
Michael Duncans of the world will be king for a day.

Their subjects await them, in the kingdom of the
damned.

To leave a comment for Barbara Shelly call 8897827
and enter 1017, or send email to bshelly@kcstar.com