METH USE IS RUINING LIVES, SPLINTERING FAMILIES IN NAPA COUNTY

It destroys. It kills. It's euphoric.

It's methamphetamine, also known as speed, crank, glass -- and as
perhaps the biggest narcotics problem facing American families and
law enforcement agencies today, including those in Napa County.

"I have seen the addiction to the drug destroy families," said Gary
Pitkin, director of the Napa Special Investigation Bureau. "I've seen
parents walk away from their children, jobs, homes and everything
they own because of the powerful addiction the drug has on them."

NSIB, made up of peace officers from each of the county law
enforcement agencies, is the county's policing arm for anti-drug
enforcement. Eighty percent of NSIB drug arrests involve meth, Pitkin said.

"The majority of the time it is also the root of all other crimes,
such as domestic violence, child abuse, theft, robbery and burglary,"
he said. "Many of the meth arrests are the same people. We have just
far too many repeat offenders. When they get arrested on possession
(of meth) they usually also get charged with violation of probation
or parole at the same time. Once the drug gets hold of you, it's got
you for good. It can destroy the life of anyone."

A derivative of amphetamine, meth is a powerful stimulant that
affects the central nervous system. Amphetamines were originally
intended for use in nasal decongestants and bronchial inhalers. They
were also used for weight control and to treat attention deficit disorder.

The illegal drug, a powerful upper, produces alertness and elation.
Chronic use of the drug can lead to psychotic behavior. Hard-core
users also develop major health problems, including rotting teeth,
respiratory ailments and body sores.

"The effects and addiction to meth is like no other drug," said
Michael Spielman, executive director of Turning Point, a residential
drug abuse treatment program in Santa Rosa. "Once a person gets
hooked .. it runs their life. It has side effects that can put a
person in a mental hospital."

The Easy-To-Make Drug Of Choice

Meth is the current drug of choice in the United States, with at
least 12 million Americans admitting to trying the drug, according to
authorities.

It can be manufactured in as little as 45 minutes, Pitkin said. "I
know of an instance where a guy was busted for making meth while
driving his car on the freeway."

Meth can be made using household cleaners, cold medicines, solvents,
acids and many other products on grocery store shelves.

Thousands of recipes for meth are available on numerous Internet
sites. The drug can be made in a makeshift lab that can fit into a
suitcase. The average meth "cook" teaches 10 other people how to make
the drug each year, Pitkin said.

Most homemade meth recipes call for a long list of routine items:
bottles, funnels, coffee filters, a blender, paper towels, rubber
gloves, hot plate, aluminum foil and tape.

When smoking, snorting or swallowing their drug of choice, meth users
are usually ingesting brake cleaner, fertilizer, drain cleaner, lye,
iodine or sodium metal, along with myriad other solvents and cold remedies.

"It's pretty amazing what people will put into their bodies," Pitkin
said. "The process of making meth is to cook, extract and refine. In
the last stage, you end up with a white powder that looks much like
granulated sugar."

The so-called Nazi method is one variation of making meth. It got its
name because it allegedly mirrors a drug recipe used by the Germans
in World War II. The Nazis are said to have used an ammonia-based
liquid found in fertilizer and stored in large tanks on farms, and
meth makers in the United States today have been known to steal
fertilizer in the middle of the night and set up quickie meth labs
near such tanks.

If making meth at night is too tiring for some home cooks, there is
another, more down-to-earth process.

Areas where meth by-products have been dumped can be a meth maker's
haven. Cooks excavate hundreds of yards of earth from these sites,
process the dirt and extract the chemicals to make another new batch
of the drug.

Meth's cousin, ice, is a potent, smokable form of the drug. It got
its name because it looks like a chip of ice or rock candy. Hawaii is
known as the ice capital of the world.

Cheap Drugs

The going cost for one gram of meth is between $60 and $100, Pitkin said.

One gram of meth is the size of a sugar packet. "There are usually 10
hits from one gram of meth," he said.

A glass-smoking pipe is the most common way to use meth, though meth
users also get high by snorting the drug the way that cocaine users
do, or swallowing it in some type of liquid.

Users also dilute meth with water and shoot up using a needle. Other
methods of using the drug involves wrapping meth in toilet paper, and
eating it or mixing it with a soft drink, Pitkin said.

The intense rush and high felt from meth results from the release of
high levels of dopamine in the brain.

Since chronic users of meth build up a tolerance, they frequently
began using higher doses of the drug and more frequently," Pitkin
said. "They go on a binge, called a run, where they don't eat or
sleep for days. This can go on for as much as 10 days until they run
out of the drug or they are too dazed to continue. Then they crash
and will sleep for days."

During a run it's not unusual for a user to shoot up a gram of meth
every three to four hours.

All Types Of Users

Pitkin and others say that while Napa County has plenty of users, the
drug is not manufactured in large quantities here. Most of the meth
available on the West Coast, they say, is made in Mexico.

While the image of drug users is of people who are otherwise involved
in criminal activity or are hanging at the margins of society, law
enforcement officers say the use of meth is more widespread than most
people believe.

"Those high on the economic scale are just as addicted to the drug.
No one is immune," said Napa County Sheriff's Capt. Mike Loughran.
"I've seen highly successful professional businessmen lose everything
because of their addiction."

"We see school kids, housewives, blue-collar workers and
professionals hooked on the drug," Pitkin said. "It is one of the
most addictive drugs we have ever come across. You almost have a
better chance of winning the lottery than kicking the addiction."