METH COOK SPEAKS OUT AGAINST DRUG FROM BEHIND BARS

Editor's Note -- Daily Courier staff writer Josh Humphries recently had an
opportunity to interview a suspect who had been arrested in a
methamphetamine lab raid and was charged with manufacturing the dangerous
drug. Following is the story that resulted from that interview.

RUTHERFORDTON -- A methamphetamine cook in custody at the Rutherford County
Detention Facility wants to warn those who are thinking of trying meth.

The inmate, whose name was withheld at the request of law enforcement
officials, said that trying meth for the first time often happens when
friends get together.

"A bunch of friends got together and someone had some," said the inmate of
their first meth experience. "It was just like passing a blunt (a
marijuana-laced cigar) -- not that big of a deal at first."

The inmate said that people who have never used meth should never try it.

"It is no good," said the inmate. "If you do it, you will end up in jail,
or dead, and lose everything you have. I've known people on crack who were
not as bad as people on meth."

The inmate made meth once a week in the beginning and as time went on, the
cook made it more than once a week.

"People would bring me the stuff to make it," said the cook. "The faster
they got it there, the faster you made it and more you did."

The cook made about 20 to 30 grams of meth at a time to pay the bills and
to have the drug to smoke.

"I didn't make a bunch of money, but I made some," said the cook. "If you
sell to somebody, you smoke with them."

A drug officer said that most meth addicts do not really have anything of
value and are often homeless and live day to day wherever they can.

The cook wants to stay off of meth and spend more time with family.

"My kids were missing out," said the cook. "It took at lot from me -- time
I could have spent with them -- you don't care about anything when you are
on it."

Getting along with other users was easy, at least until the meth ran out,
said the cook.

"You get so used to being on it that everything is different when you are
not," said the cook. "People's reactions were different to not being on it,
it just depended on who they were."

The cook urges people who had never done the drug to stay away from it.

"I never gave it to anybody for their first time," the cook said. "I would
say 'put it down' to someone who just picked it up."

One of the Sheriff's drug officers said that meth cooks often become
addicted to the act of making meth, that cooking is an addiction in itself.

"They get addicted to making it," said the officer. "I guess they just like
to see if they can do it."

Making meth is a process that requires a minimal amount of chemistry
skills. Meth cooks use common household items like cold medication that
contains pseudoephedrine, hydrogen peroxide, acetone, lye, matches and
rubbing alcohol.

The meth cook at the jail said that addicts look through the sales papers
to find items that are on sale at different stores to obtain the products
used to make the drug.

The drug officer said that meth abuse is not decreasing in the area as far
as officials can tell. He said that stronger penalties on manufacturing may
help reduce the number of labs, but meth addicts are still using in high
numbers in the county.

The SBI has estimated that only six people out 100 who are addicted to meth
will be able to get off it.

Methamphetamine is a central nervous stimulate that is made from ephedrine
or pseudoephedrine. It is stronger and lasts longer than cocaine or crack,
according to the SBI.

The drug is highly addictive and can be very cheap because a lot of people
make it for themselves.

Meth is made in secret, usually makeshift laboratories that may be found in
ordinary kitchens, bathrooms, basements or sheds. The process for making
meth is not difficult to learn, so uneducated drug dealers can make the
drug without any scientific training.