SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT SHOWS THE FACES OF METH

A PowerPoint presentation by the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department about
the danger of methamphetamine begins with the mug shot of a woman arrested
for meth possession in Florida.

Her head is cocked to one side as she looks blankly into the camera. As the
presentation continues, more mug shots of the woman are flashed on the screen.

She looks confused and sad during the first few pictures, but Dave Ross,
the department's training and professional standards officer, shows that
things get worse.

"She starts to look real bad," Ross said as the images progress.

By the final shot, the woman is a hollowed-eyed shell of her former self.
Her cheeks have receded into her scab-marked face and her eyes are barely open.

She looks to be in her late 50s.

The picture was taken when she was 26.

It's easy to talk about the effects of meth, but Sheriff Mike Rutherford
said it is much more effective to show what the drug can do to someone.

"When people see stuff like this, they see what the drug can do and how it
affects people," he said.

Another slide shows two mug shots of another woman.

One the left is a pretty, doe-eyed teenager. She nods toward the camera,
her brown hair tumbling around her shoulders.

On the right is a picture of the same woman taken a few months later. Her
face is withdrawn and scabbed, and she apparently has pulled out most of
the hair on the crown of her head.

"A pretty young girl like that, and now she looks like a skeleton," Ross said.

The sheriff's department will present the program, which was developed by
the West Virginia Prevention Resource Network, to any group interested in
learning more about the drug and its dangers. The network is a nonprofit
organization aimed at drug prevention.

Rutherford learned about the program during a recent meeting of the West
Virginia Sheriff's Association. The presentation details what is used to
make the drug and the effects it has on the central nervous system.

Ross makes a dramatic point when he shows what can be used to make the drug.

Lye, antifreeze, peroxide, iodine, heating fluid, Coleman fuel, gasoline,
acetone, muriatic acid and drain cleaner can all be used to draw out the
amphetamine in cold medicine or other over the counter pills containing
pseudoephedrine.

"Any one of those things, other than the cold medicine, if you take them by
themselves, will kill you," Ross said.

Because the process of making the drug can be so volatile -- one step
involves heating gasoline in open containers -- explosions are commonplace.

Ross flashes pictures on the screen of people burned in meth fires. One
man's face is badly burned. Another shows a picture of baby who was at a
home where a lab exploded. The top layer of skin around his nose is burned red.

"That baby later died," Ross said.

Meth gives its users a high similar to cocaine, but it is cheaper and
almost anyone can make it. The drug works by hitting the central nervous
system. It eventually can cause its users to become extremely agitated,
babble incoherently, lose their appetites and increase their physical
activity, causing weight loss.

Ross also points out that the drug causes people to stay up for days at a
time and destroys short-term memory. It can make them violent and psychotic.

The presentation also delves into the drug's history, how it first appeared
in California in the 1960s and made its way across the country in the
crankcases of motorcycle gangs.

Ross said one of the most important features of the presentation is that it
shows people how to identify meth labs.

Indicators include strong chemical odors like ammonia, ether and acetones;
blacked-out windows; renters who only pay in cash; and excessive amounts of
trash marked by large amounts of anti-freeze, drain cleaner and clear glass
containers.

Ross said the presentation isn't targeted toward any specific group, but
he's shown it to people like home day care inspectors, employees of paving
and construction companies and civic groups.

He has also taken the presentation into schools.

"Once they start seeing those pictures, it's a very effective deterrent for
kids," he said.

For more information about the presentation, call the sheriff's department
at 357-0169.