METH IN THE MIDWEST

Thera Bullock began using meth at 19 years old; she started using it
because her husband did.

"The first time I tried it I was hooked," Bullock said. "I kind of felt
like if I couldn't beat him, join him. My attitude was also like, I'm going
to show him that he can walk away, that he don't have to do this."

By the time Bullock was 23, her meth use had ruined her life. She was
homeless and two of her three children were taken away by the state.
Finally, she and her husband were arrested while driving with a
near-complete meth lab in the truck.

"All we needed was the anhydrous ammonia," she said.

The Midwest is the center of a methamphetamine epidemic. Vickie Liebarker,
Bridgeway drug counselor, has been rehabilitating drug addicts around the
country for years. She said meth use is more prevalent here than any place
else she has worked.

"When I was in Virginia, we didn't have meth users in the criminal justice
system like we do here. On the East Coast, it hasn't really hit yet,"
Liebarker said.

Organized gangs in Mexico and the West Coast supply most of the nation's
methamphetamine. However, local manufacturers produce an increasing amount
of the drug in the Midwest.

Between 1999 and 2004 the number of meth lab incidents decreased
nationwide, but that figure increased in the Midwest. There were more than
900 incidents in Illinois alone.

West-Central Illinois Drug Task Force Co-Director Ken Kedzier said most
people working the supply side of the meth trade are like Bullock: users
themselves.

Kedzier said meth manufacturing peaked in this region in 2001.

"Back then, we were responding to a lab, probably, every other day,"
Kedzier said.

A joint effort between local law enforcement, the DEA and the task force
broke up an organized ring of meth manufacturers in 2002.

"It's been our feeling that really was the thrust of the problem," Kedzier
said.

In 2001, the task force shut down more than 60 labs. This year, less than 20.

Meth labs have not disappeared from the region. Kedzier said theft of
anhydrous ammonia from farmers, a key ingredient in meth production,
continues to be a problem. However, the task force is fighting the war
against meth on a new front.

Kedzier said most of the meth arrests these days are of people from Iowa
who come to Illinois to get pseudoephedrine, a primary ingredient in
methamphetamine and common cold medicines. Illinois Attorney General Lisa
Madigan recently said the ease with which pseudoephedrine is obtained in
Illinois puts the state in danger of becoming a meth shopping mall.

Kedzier echoes her concerns. He said stricter guidelines for purchasing
pseudoephedrine would help law enforcement crack down on meth production.
Illinois state law currently requires stores to put medicines containing
pseudoephedrine behind a counter. The law also limits the number of pills
that can be purchased at one time.

Federal regulation of pseudoephedrine appears imminent. The United States
Senate recently passed the Combat Meth Act. The legislation would make
pseudoephedrine a Schedule Five drug. Though the measure cleared the senate
with 99 votes, it is not without controversy.

Rick Crossett, Ford Hopkins Drug Store pharmacist, does not welcome the
proposed changes to the law.

If the Combat Meth Act becomes law, Crosset would have to monitor the
number of pseudoephedrine pills each customer buys per month. He said the
extra work is not necessary in his store.

"Most of the people who come in are regular customers, and I feel very
comfortable selling pseudoephedrine to them," Crossett said.

Regardless of what happens with pseudoephedrine, one of the tools law
enforcement has to fight the meth epidemic is testimonials from former
users, people like Bullock. The night of her arrest marked a new chapter in
her life. Her arresting officer convinced her to participate in an
interview that could be presented to schools.

"I had been up for five days, and I had track marks all up and down my arms
when I made this tape ... I didn't know then that that was the end, but I
haven't used since," Bullock said.

She now talks in schools, warning kids about the dangers of meth.

"I believe God allowed me to go through that so I could help others."