METH MADNESS

Authorities Seeing Disturbing Trend

Jones County might not be a large metropolis, but it has the same
big problem shared by many of the larger cities and communities
across the country -- methamphetamine.

Better known as "meth," according to Jones County Sherrif Alex
Hodge, it is currently one of the most popular drugs in the county.
This white, odorless, bitter-tasting powder, can be easily dissolved
in alcohol or water and can be smoked, injected, or snorted.

"It's a dangerous drug," said Hodge. "And all of those old
stereotypes you may have of drug users can be trashed.

"Meth is used by everyone, from those driving the Volkswagen to the
Mercedes," he continued. "It affects all businesses, employees and
employers. It's just a major problem."

According to Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Director Marshall
Fisher, the demographics of the county is perhaps the main reason
meth is so popular. "Jones County is mostly a rural area," he said.
"It's the perfect environment for people who want to cook the stuff
in houses, trailers, barns, or what have you.

"They are in an area where house aren't too close together and that
makes it very convenient," he said. "The fumes are perhaps not as
noticeable as they would be if they were in a city."

Many of the arrests made by the Sheriff's Department came as a
result of people smelling a strange odor coming from a house in
their community. The March 6 arrest of four people on Sharon Moss
Road is an example.

However, Hodge said all strange odors coming from a house does not
necessarily mean a meth lab is present. He want's people to be
watchful and look signs other than a strange odor.

Eddie Hawkins, Methamphetamine Field Coordinator for the Bureau of
Narcotics, said other indicators of a meth lab are :

fortifications, people barricading themselves inside a residence,

suspicious visitors coming to a residence and staying a short time,

chemical drums outside a residence,

people going outside a residence to smoke,

chemical containers in the trash can,

jars containing clear liquid with a white colored,

jars containing clear liquid with a white colored solid on the bottom

coffee filters containing a white pasty substance or a dark red
sludge or small amounts of white crystals,

cookware containing a powdery residue,

large amounts of lithium batteries, especially ones that have been
stripped out of the casing

propane tanks with fittings that have turned blue,

an unusually large number of cans of Coleman fuel, paint thinner,
acetone, starter fluid, Red Devil Lye and drain cleaners containing
sulfuric acid or bottles containing muriatic acid, and

large amounts of cold tablets containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine.

Hodge said any time people are manufacturing meth, they are
endangering not only themselves, but any one around them. The
chemicals used are so potent they can burn the skin once it touches them.

"Now just imagine people digesting it," he said. "It's not a pretty
picture. It ages them drastically."

What saddens Hodge most about it all is the children that are
affected by the drug. One arrest scene lingers vividly in his mind
because of the victims. "We entered the home and there was the mother
as high as a kite, sitting there," he said. "There in the bed was a
five-month-old child.

"As we removed the child from the house, (the mother) was crying 'my
baby, my baby'," he continued. "The baby was filthy: it's diaper was soiled.

"We called the Department of Human Services and they cleaned the
child up. When they changed the baby's diaper, they found ammonia
pellets in it. The baby had ingested so much of the chemicals from
the meth lab, they were in its system.

"People just don't think."

Also, people just can't say it'll never happen to them. Hodge has had
a number of people to say they never thought their daughter, son,
mother or father would ever use the drug. Many of them turn to the
drug because of some crisis, he added.

"Some may lose their jobs, may be facing divorce or are having other
family problems tugging at them. You can manufacture three or five
grams of meth at a time and it goes for $100 a gram.

"At anywhere from $25 to $30, it's inexpensive to manufacture. With
the economy the way it is, $100 a gram seems like a gold mine."

But remember this. Hodge and his law enforcement agents will continue
to destroy these meth labs and arrest manufacturers, as well as buyers.

"There's an old saying, 'sin will keep you longer than you want to
stay and cost you more than you want to pay,'" said Hodge.