OFFICIALS: METH GROWING PROBLEM IN AREA

COOPERSTOWN - Like bathtub gin in the Roaring '20s, methamphetamine
can be made at home and alter your perceptions.

And like bathtub gin, methamphetamine is illegal and possessing it can
get you sent to prison.

According to law-enforcement officials, methamphetamine is a growing
problem locally, especially in the countryside. Homemade production is
dangerous, potentially explosive, and several chemicals used in making
homemade methamphetamine are dangerous to the environment, they say.
Known as ice, crystal, crank, glass, speed, meth and dozens of other
names, this synthetic amphetamine is a potent stimulant. It can be
injected, snorted, smoked or ingested, causing the user to feel
mentally alert and confident.

Methamphetamine can elevate a user's mood, induce euphoria, increase
alertness, reduce fatigue, increase energy, decrease appetite,
increase movement and speech, and provide a sense of increased
personal power and prowess, according to the PBS program "Frontline"
in a report at www.pbs.org.

"Unlike a cocaine high, which is brief, the effect of meth lasts for
six to eight hours or more depending how much you do," Frontline
reports. After the high, though, comes a low.

"The euphoria, excitement and sleeplessness experienced by persons on
the drug may give way to severe depression once the dose wears off,"
Frontline reports.

Excessive use of methamphetamine can eventually induce toxic
psychosis. Psychological symptoms of longterm use include paranoia,
hallucinations, repetitive behavior patterns and delusions of
parasites or insects under the skin, according to the report.

Amphetamines were first synthesized in Germany in 1887, and the
related drugs, methamphetamines, were created in Japan in 1919,
according to Narconon Arrowhead, an organization that seeks to help
people stop using illegal drugs.

During World War II and the Vietnam War, governments fed amphetamines
to their soldiers to help them keep fighting, according to Narconon
Arrowhead. "During the Vietnam war, American soldiers used more
amphetamines than the rest of the world did during WWII," the
organization, found on the Internet at www.stopaddiction.com, states.

In the United States in the 1950s, legally manufactured tablets of
dextroamphetamine, brand name Dexedrine, and methamphetamine, brand
name Methedrine, were used non-medically by college students, truck
drivers and athletes, Narconon Arrowhead states.

In 1970, the federal Controlled Substances Act outlawed most uses of
meth, along with several other drugs. That law and several state laws
prescribed severe penalties for what had been legal in the United
States in the first half of the 20th century.

Still, not everyone stopped using methamphetamine, and people began to
make their own variants of the drug at home, said John Muehl, Otsego
County's district attorney.

"For years, it was known as a biker drug out West, but it's been
moving our way," he said Tuesday. "Until recently, we didn't see much
of it, but it's definitely here now."

Last year in Otsego County, police found five homemade production
facilities, known as meth labs. So far in 2005, four labs have been
found. Part of the drug's attraction is that its components are
readily available and relatively cheap.

"You can get everything you need at Wal-Mart," Muehl said. There are
many ways to make meth. One primary ingredient, pseudoephedrine, is
found in Sudafed and other cold medications. These pills are crushed,
soaked in denatured alcohol, then heated and filtered to remove
impurities. In one production method used locally, "meth cooks"
combine pseudoephedrine with red phosphorus, found in the striking
surface of books of matches, to make their drug, Muehl said. Another
method that is used in western New York requires anhydrous ammonia, an
ingredient in fertilizer that can be explosive. "Anhydrous ammonia
dries up anything it touches. If it blows up in your face, it can turn
your eyes to raisins," Muehl said. Several other ingredients including
toluene, which is found in brake cleaner; sodium hydroxide, also known
as lye; ether, found in engine starter; iodine; acetone; muriatic
acid; and sulphuric acid are used to make the final product, according
to Narconon Arrowhead. Production facilities usually consist of
tubing, mason jars, beakers and a heat source, such as a propane
cooker. At the end of the process, which takes several hours, the end
product is a potent stimulant. The byproducts are toxic and dangerous
to people and the environment and may require an extensive cleanup.
Some Internet sites report that in California, cleaning up after meth
labs is draining the state's toxic-waste-cleanup budget.

Just this week, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-New Hartford, chairman of
the House Science Committee, announced that his committee approved a
bill to establish a federal program authorizing $4.5 million a year to
clean up former meth labs.

"Meth is posing a serious threat to upstate New York, as illegal,
clandestine labs continue to proliferate at an alarming rate right
here in our own backyard," Boehlert said.

Police must be cautious when busting a meth lab, said Investigator
Michael Ten Eyck of the Otsego County Sheriff's Department. "The
chemicals are toxic to touch or breathe, and you don't know what to
expect from the people," said Ten Eyck, who has been schooled in how
to recognize meth labs and the people who use the drug. Ten Eyck and
Muehl said most local meth labs are found in remote areas where the
acrid odors of production won't alert the neighbors. Most people who
make the drug are users, and most users are poor, Muehl said. One
alarming fact is that children often are exposed to the toxic brew
that yields methamphetamine, Muehl said.

In one case pending before Otsego County Judge Brian Burns, Clinton
Southard, 35, now of 243 Armstrong Road, Plainfield, is accused in two
indictments of second-degree criminal possession of a controlled
substance. According to court records, Southard was twice found to be
in possession of more than two ounces of substances containing
methamphetamine. The first time, in December 2003 when he lived at 301
Bassett Road, Plainfield, he gave a statement helping to incriminate
Craig Harvey of Leonardsville.

When asked by police why he had let Harvey use his residence to make
meth, Southard answered, "I was broke. I needed money," according to
court records.

Harvey, 48, subsequently was convicted of fourth-degree criminal
possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced last March to
two to six years in state prison.

Southard was told that if he stayed out of trouble, he wouldn't be
prosecuted. But the following July, he was found with methamphetamine
and faces charges stemming from both busts, Muehl said. "Before they
reformed the Rockefeller drug laws, the maximum sentence for
possession of two or more ounces was 15 years. Now it's three to 10,"
Muehl said.

Southard, who was bailed out of jail in early March, declined to be
interviewed for this story. His father, Clinton Southard Sr., said the
charges have caused his family much trouble. His son's retained
attorney, Rebecca Wittman of Utica, did not return calls placed to her
office and home this week.

Muehl said meth cooks are usually caught through tips submitted to
officers. "If someone buys a lot of Sudafed and red phosphorus
matches, a store might alert us," Muehl said.

In January, The New York Times reported that several states are
considering laws to restrict the sale of cold medications containing
pseudoephedrine.

"Faced with a growing crisis of methamphetamine addiction and toxic
spills from homemade drug laboratories, 20 states are considering
legislation that would impose tight restrictions," the newspaper
reported. Although the bills differ in detail, most would classify
pseudoephedrine as a controlled substance and would allow sales of
products containing it only in pharmacies, not in grocery or
convenience stores, the Times reported. Customers would have to
purchase the medicine from a pharmacist, show photo identification and
sign a logbook. Oklahoma passed such a law last year.

Duncan Davie, spokesman for state Sen. James Seward, R-Milford, said
Friday that two bills to restrict or criminalize possession of
precursor ingredients of methamphetamine are being considered by the
state Legislature.

Anyone who sees evidence of a meth lab or suspects that it is being
manufactured should call the state police or their county sheriff's
department, Muehl said.

The New York State Police can be reached at 561-7400. The Otsego
County Sheriff's Department's number is 547-4273. The Delaware County
Sheriff's Department's number is 746-2336 and the Chenango County
Sheriff's Department is 334-2000.