NOT A DRUG TO UNDERESTIMATE

Connecticut hasn't experienced problems with methamphetamine, but a lab was
discovered in East Hampton.

The recent arrests of several people for producing methamphetamine at a lab
in East Hampton is very troubling news for this state. Law enforcement is
very concerned that use of the drug may take hold here. They should be worried.

Methamphetamine is similar to crack cocaine. It is an extremely addictive
drug that devastates the users and inflicts brain damage on chronic users.
The small labs in which 35 percent of the drug is manufactured leave behind
the equivalent of little toxic waste dumps, which cost upwards of $50,000
to clean up. The labs are generally found in rural and suburban areas.
Users are generally white, middle class kids.

The central ingredient pushers use to make the drug is a product called
pseudoephedrine, found in cold medicine. This has led 30 states to pass
laws or consider passing laws that makes such cold medicines something
either requiring a doctor's prescription, or an item that can't be bought
by anyone unless he is above the age of 21, and then only in small amounts.
Pharmaceutical companies are rushing to replace pseudoephedrine in cold
medicine with the decongestant phenylephrine, which can't be converted to
methamphetamine.

The Midwest and Southwest have had plenty of experience with "meth," and
it's all bad. Chronic users have been known to experience psychotic breaks
and violent episodes. The drug is easy to make with ingredients that are
simple to buy. At the same time, it is extremely difficult to help meth
addicts without highly intensive, sophisticated treatment.

This drug is not particularly prevalent on the East Coast. The Connecticut
treatment system is virtually unprepared if methamphetamine use begins to
spread. If one lab was found, it's a sign that the state should prepare for
the worst.