CURBING METH USE DEMANDS 3-PRONGED ATTACK

Methamphetamine addiction has taken root in Siouxland's cities and
small towns, growing into the fabric of our community, whether we are
aware of it or not.

The super-charged, highly addictive stimulant found a lucrative market
in Siouxland in the early 1990s and an attractive network of
interstate highways, handy for multi-state distribution. Since then
meth has pushed its way to a top spot on the illicit drug parade.
Second only to marijuana now, use appeared to level off in 1998-99.
But it has never dropped. By 2000 it was on the rise again.

Long before that, law enforcement had recognized that meth is a new
breed of drug and would not soon fall from favor. Once found almost
exclusively among 20-somethings, arrests show meth use widely spread
among those in their 30s and 40s, reaching down as young as 12 and up
to people in their 50s and even 60s. Meth is by far No. 1 in federal
drug cases prosecuted here now. Law enforcement officers say it's a
factor in many more crimes, such as theft, burglary and domestic
abuse. It even shows up, second only to marijuana, in pre-employment
drug tests.

Meth is not grown like marijuana or cocaine. It is man-made using
corrosive chemicals such as battery acid, anhydrous ammonia and
lantern fuel. There are two main methods for cooking meth. Both
require ephedrine, a legal substance found in many cold medicines.

Meth can be used by snorting, smoking, injecting or even ingesting it.
It is highly psychologically addictive and alters the brain's
chemistry in such a way that some users report cravings for more even
after just one use.

Mexican drug cartels and Southwestern U.S. motorcycle gangs were the
largest suppliers to the Siouxland market when it first appeared here.
Now the area's meth comes mostly from mega-labs based in Southern
California, which can produce 100 pounds at a time.

We're becoming adept at making our own meth, too, although usually
just an ounce at a time. While law enforcement officials concede they
have no way to know for sure, they estimate 5 to 15 percent of
Siouxland's supply is cooked up in local "labs" consisting of ordinary
kitchen utensils and legally available ingredients. Many are set up in
rural houses, motel rooms, RVs and even in the backseats of cars,
making them hard to find and adding toxic litter to country ditches.

In 1999, Iowa authorities uncovered two labs; through Dec. 1 this
year, they have found 552. Nebraska has reported a similar jump.

Being manufactured, the meth supply is immune to the pressures of a
poor growing season, alternative crop programs in Columbia, or
confiscations at the border.

Old debates over whether to concentrate resources on cutting off the
supply or curbing the demand have morphed into widespread recognition
that a three-pronged, long-term attack is needed: education for
prevention; law enforcement for control; and treatment for restoring
users to productive lives.

'It's the devil's drug'

Ironically, a longtime addict and a longtime undercover Iowa narcotics
agent interviewed for this series see meth startlingly alike.

The addict, who has gotten "clean" at least three times and claims to
hate the feeling the drug gives her now, calls meth "the devil's
drug." Wanting to be identified only as Brandi, she says meth's
pervasiveness is "a sign of the end of the world" as depicted in the
Bible.

The narcotics agent, Todd Jones, who works out of Iowa's Crawford
County, compares meth's ubiquity and effects to the opium epidemic
that nearly destroyed Chinese society in the early 19th century.

Meth is anything but cheap

Sometimes called "poor man's cocaine," meth offers an intense high
similar to cocaine, but sells for well below half its price -- about
$45 an 8-ball, or 1/8th ounce -- accounting for its popularity in the
Midwest.

Meth is readily available in urban and rural communities alike. It may
cost a little more in the small towns, a function of supply and
demand. Jones said fewer dealers mean less competition, thus higher
prices. More sources in larger cities keep prices there lower.

At any price, there is no assurance of quality. Jones said he has
bought meth as little as 3 or 4 percent pure, a fact he thinks is
driving the rise in local labs. He notes that at 80 percent purity or
more, meth is deadly.

Regardless of market price or purity, meth is anything but
cheap.

Among its victims -- in addition to users, torn-apart families,
damaged and neglected children and employers who feel a number of
ramifications -- are taxpayers.

Law enforcement departments, courts, jails and prisons are flooded
with methamphetamine and related cases. Most of the accused are
employed at the time of their arrest.

The rural communities are equally caught up in it, with arrests for
meth occurring in many towns, from Spirit Lake to Norfolk, Neb., from
Storm Lake to Elk Point, S.D., and beyond.

Medical expenses add to the cost of meth use. The drug causes the
brain to flood itself with releases of dopamine, the substance that
gives us the feeling of pleasure -- all the while damaging the brain
in way researchers liken to Parkinson's or Alzheimer's diseases.

Meth can cause heart attacks, strokes and death, sometimes in even
first-time users and sometimes in newborn babies, increasingly exposed
in utero as more women turn to meth.

And, meth use has recently found to sometimes coexist with a list of
mental illnesses, such as depression and manic episodes, especially in
teens.

There is no cure for meth addiction, no anti-meth drug. There is only
recovery, which relies on intense behavioral treatment such as stress
management and coping skills, and offers success rates between 20 and
30 percent. Like cigarette smokers, meth users may quit multiple times
before achieving long-term success.

Public spending on combating meth is growing along with its
use.

A steady stream of announcements from representatives and senators in
Des Moines, Pierre, Lincoln and Washington, D.C., trumpet state and
federal grants or appropriations for law enforcement training and
equipment, meth treatment, education, illegal lab clean-up and
meth-exposed child protection, among other activities. Awards range
from the tens-of-thousands to hundreds of millions of dollars.

If any drug can prove wrong the user's age-old defense that theirs is
a victimless crime, it is methamphetamine