METH 'MENACE' ON RISE LOCALLY; LAW ENFORCERS, COMMUNITY GROUPS CONCERNED

A Loxahatchee woman noticed nothing odd about her new neighbor except that
he liked to mow his lawn at 4 a.m.

The neighbor's unusual lawn-care habits likely were driven by
methamphetamine, an illegal stimulant that investigators said he was
manufacturing in the rented home before he suddenly disappeared.

The discovery of the abandoned lab last month was a shock to some who
believed methamphetamine was largely absent here. But the rise in labs and
shipments of potent crystallized meth found in Palm Beach County and nearby
areas is convincing law enforcement agencies that meth is moving in to
challenge cocaine as the leading narcotic.

"We've been the grim reaper as far as getting the word out about meth,"
said sheriff's narcotics Lt. Dennis St. Cyr. "It's a menace."

Eight labs have been discovered in St. Lucie County since December, and
rural Okeechobee County has closed more than a dozen meth labs in the past
three years.

"It's coming and is just starting to show its face," said Port St. Lucie
Detective Gary Grenier, whose department shut down three of the labs. "From
what we hear, it's more addictive than crack cocaine. One person we
arrested said he was using it to get off oxycodone."

In Okeechobee County, meth continues to be a problem even after a crackdown
in 2003 closed about a dozen meth labs.

"I'd say it's No. 2 behind cocaine," said sheriff's Detective Sgt. Jimmy
Mills. "Most of your meth users are low to middle-class with no particular
race involved."

Appearing in California in the 1970s, meth has ravaged Middle America and
in recent years gained a foothold in rural counties in North and Central
Florida. Much of the drug is "cooked" in home labs for limited
distribution, but a pipeline direct from superlabs operated by Mexican
gangs in Western states also is targeting South Florida. Seizures of 10
pounds and 3 pounds of meth have been made in Palm Beach County in recent
months.

A Deadly History

Methamphetamine, marketed in the 1930s as a nasal decongestant, has a long
illicit history. World War II soldiers, reportedly including Japanese
pilots sent on kamikaze missions, were given the drug to boost bravado.
Meth in the 1960s, known as speed, was used by truck drivers to stay awake
on long hauls, by college students cramming for exams and for weight loss.

Because of enhanced purity, meth gradually became more deadly and destroyed
families. It also left a flood of foster kids as it spread.

"It's such an incredibly addictive drug, and what it does to the society
around it is unparalleled," said Mark Trouville, chief of the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration in Florida.

"We've had situations where infants haven't eaten in two weeks and died
because their parents were so strung out they forget to feed their
children," Trouville said.

The home-based labs usually provide just enough meth for the user and a few
friends, he said. The toxic chemicals used by the home "cookers" are so
dangerous that DEA agents must wear chemical suits to enter, he said.

"All you need are a couple of buckets, some ephedrine, kerosene, drain
cleaner and a willingness to die," Trouville said.

While the "mom and pop" labs are increasing, Florida agents are also seeing
more bulk shipments of refined crystal meth from clandestine California labs.

'It Made Me Fall Apart'

Crystal meth, sometimes called ice, is gaining use in gay social networks
in South Florida, said Christopher Lacharite, an HIV prevention manager at
Compass, a community center for gays and lesbians in West Palm Beach.

"It's here, but not as much as in Fort Lauderdale or Miami," Lacharite
said. "It's under the radar because it's not sold on the street, and there
is less violence associated with its use."

Interviews with 1,040 gay men in Fort Lauderdale and Miami last year
reported that 179 had used meth during the previous 12 months, according to
preliminary results of the survey by the Florida Department of Health and
the University of Miami School of Medicine. Because the drug triggers
hypersexual appetites, users were less likely to use condoms and were more
promiscuous, with most reporting more than 10 sex partners during the
previous year.

"What has been gradually happening is that we're seeing the normalization
of meth use in the gay community," Lacharite said.

A former meth addict himself, Lacharite, 51, counsels groups of five to 10
recovering meth addicts in weekly sessions at Compass and talks of his own
4-year addiction. Snorting meth for the first time in 1997 in Fort
Lauderdale after meeting a supplier on the Internet, Lacharite said his
addiction caused him to lose his state nursing license and nearly drove him
to suicide.

"After the first few times you use it, you need more and more and more," he
said. "The more I used, the less I was able to function. It made me fall
apart."

An Ever-Increasing Presence

While meth's revenge is psychosis, its initial appeal is a rush of energy
that can last for hours or days compared with the relatively expensive and
short high of cocaine.

Cocaine is still South Florida's No. 1 illegal drug, but meth is beginning
to show up more frequently in the mix.

About 60 grams of crystal meth were seized in August from a Delray Beach
drug dealer. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents also found 900
Ecstasy pills, 2,600 hydrocodone tablets and a pound of marijuana when they
moved in on the Palm Cove Boulevard apartment of Craig Tush, 35. Tush in
February was sentenced to 12 years in prison for possession and intent to
distribute the drugs.

In May, 10 pounds of meth were seized from an Atlanta man in the parking
lot of a Home Depot store on Okeechobee Boulevard in suburban West Palm
Beach. Undercover sheriff's agents arranged to buy the meth from Salomon
Osorio Duran, 46, for $150,000, according to federal court records. Duran
transported the meth in the door panels of his Ford Expedition and faces
from 10 years to life in prison if convicted.

Such finds are raising concerns in Florida, prompting the legislature this
year to limit sales of Sudafed and other cold remedies containing
pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in making methamphetamine. A new law
effective July 1 requires the medicines be kept behind the pharmacy counter
and limits sales to three packages per customer. Some Western states are
considering banning nonprescription sales of pseudoephedrine.

Drug treatment and prevention organizations are forming task forces to
inform the public, police and health providers about how to spot meth use
and meth labs.

Toxic chemicals and compounds used by the labs -- including red
phosphorous, hydrochloric acid, drain cleaner, battery acid, lye, lantern
fuel, acetone and antifreeze -- are materials that may not raise suspicion
if found in an abandoned apartment or car trunk.

"Community alert" meetings are held regularly for professional groups by
the South Florida Methamphetamine Task Group, which circulates chilling
"Meth Equals Death" palm cards showing the drug eating away the face of a
young man.

The task group joined with the Palm Beach County Substance Abuse Coalition
in May to hold the first local alert meeting at Palm Beach Community College.

"We try to educate the front-line professionals who would be seeing folks
with these problems," said Joel Kaufman of the Broward County Commission on
Substance Abuse. "Unfortunately, because meth doesn't get the same kind of
coverage as in the West and Midwest, people here are not as well aware of it."

Doris Carroll of Palm Beach County's Substance Abuse Coalition said she
hears about the scourge of meth each time she attends an out-of-state seminar.

"We're the only community that wasn't talking about meth," Carroll said.
"The epidemic that's all over the nation isn't here yet. That means we have
a great opportunity now to do prevention work."