SUMMIT TO ADDRESS GROWTH OF 'METH' PROBLEM PUT ON

BULL SHOALS - A group of people from law enforcement and other public
service agencies sat around tables at a resort here last week, a view of
trees changing into fall colors and Lake Bull Shoals picturesque all around.

Most were from various agencies across the 14th Judicial Circuit, covering
Baxter, Boone, Marion and Newton counties, and they'd been invited to
discuss the ever-growing problem of methamphetamine. As the day wore on,
Lyle Scott, assistant chief of police at Mountain Home, brought reality
into the discussion. He said that after doing preliminary figures he could
count about 12 different meth labs that had been busted within a one-mile
radius of the resort, which resulted in numerous arrests, during the last
year. "I don't think people understand how devastating this is to our
community," echoed Baxter County Sheriff's Sgt. Ralph Bird. The summit was
a day-long meeting of many people from agencies concerned with drug abuse
in the area, but all agreed that methamphetamine is the worst problem of
all illicit substances abused. To make that even more believable, Duane
"Snowball" Griffin with OMART Chemical Free Living Center said that during
the 2002 fiscal year some 46 percent of participants entering the program
listed methamphetamine as their drug of choice and 58 percent listed it as
number two on the list As the meeting began, officials explained it was
arranged by the North Arkansas Drug Awareness and Prevention (NADAP)
council. Marion County Sheriff Carl McBee thanked everyone for attending
the seminar and asked them to be creative in coming up with ways to fight
the growing meth problem. "'Just say no' is not going to work," he said.
Keith Rutledge, state drug director, explained that the state Alcohol and
Drug Abuse Prevention (ADAP) council had received a $500,000 grant to find
a way to stop methamphetamine abuse. NADAP received some of that money to
fund last week's meeting, NADAP director Andrea Parton said. Rutledge told
the group that most addicts are finally influenced by the "two Js," which
he explained stood for the "judge" and "Jesus," adding that most addicts
have a spiritual vacancy that led them to drug abuse. He also said that
addicts must be taught the four Rs before they can be ready to kick the
habit, which include responsibility, restitution to community and family,
respect for themselves and others and restoration to reality to confront
the other three items. Rutledge said the best "soldiers" in the war on
drugs are those addicts who have recovered from being a "casualty" of the
war itself. Parton offered a presentation on ways to fight drug abuse in
general, including tobacco and alcohol. She said the more people from
different walks of life that are involved in the fight the better the
chances of winning. But before the group could discuss ways to fight the
problem, it first needed a basic understanding of the drug and
manufacturing process.

'A totally different animal' Many law enforcement officers at the meeting
were no strangers to a meth lab. But some people had no idea what the
meth-production process entails, so Harris and Braden filled in the blanks.
They displayed a variety of household chemicals and products used to cook
meth and even outlined the basic process. Harris said the past production
methods used virulent chemicals in a process that could take a couple of
days, often referred to as the "P2P method." But what officers and addicts
are encountering these days is "a totally different animal" than 10 years
ago. The old P2P method, Harris explained, produced a powerful form of
speed. The newer methods are simply designed to reduce ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine A over-the-counter medications commonly used to treat
colds, congestion and allergies A into methamphetamine. Harris said the
difference between the chemical makeup of ephedrine and methamphetamine is
one oxygen molecule. Remove that oxygen molecule and ephedrine becomes
meth. Thus, he explained, the most important ingredient is the cold
medication. A meth "cook" will buy as many boxes of such medication allowed
by law and enlist friends, usually other users, to do the same. The pills
are crunched and dissolved in a solvent. The powder at the bottom of that
container is pill binder, so the liquid is strained through a coffee filter
and the remaining liquid is pure ephedrine. Then comes even more, often
mysterious, chemical additives, such as lithium strips from batteries, used
to reduce the liquid ephedrine into a powder. Harris said anhydrous
ammonia, which is usually used as a fertilizer, is used to completely
"powder out" the liquid to make the final product. That anhydrous ammonia
can sometimes be hard by which to come, he said. "You have to go up and
steal it," Harris said. But to get around having to locate anhydrous
ammonia, some cooks are beginning to manufacture their own using another
dangerous combination of other common substances like nitrogen fertilizer,
lye and dry ice. But there is more to consider than simply the drug
produced when looking at taking down a meth lab. Harris said that for every
pound of methamphetamine produced, another five pounds or more of toxic
waste is produced and often disposed of directly into the environment. And
there is a danger with chemical reactions going on during the process,
including gasses that are easily breathed and can freeze one's lungs on
contact. One member of the group asked Harris exactly what a meth lab
smells like from a distance. He said that's not an easy question to answer.
He said some people describe the smell as akin to a cat's litter box or
even a sweet smell at times. Recalling his own first experience with a lab
in the early 1990s, he said the thing that hit him the most was that it was
something he'd never smelled before. That, he said, might be an indication
of a meth lab near at hand.

The 'only reason I do this' Harris went on to describe the effects of meth
on the body and even added his own personal experience in the drug trade.
Officials report that the brain recognizes methamphetamine as dopamine, the
chemical the brain itself produces to allow the human body to feel
pleasure. Harris said Drug Enforcement Administration statistics indicate
that the brain may actually stop producing dopamine, even for up to seven
years after the initial dose of the drug. It also can cause extreme
paranoia. Harris recounted tales of a man in northern Boone County who was
in the midst of a meth binge, or "tweaking," and was certain people were
out to get him. He said the man shot at a passing vehicle and actually hit
a young boy in the back while he was innocently riding from one place to
another. He said another man who now lives in Colorado routinely calls the
FBI to report DTF agent Braden is actively trying to assassinate him. But
Harris took the demonstration a bit further when he told the crowd about
his own experiences with drugs as a youngster. Harris explained that when
he was about in the fifth grade, he moved to southern California with his
mother and stepfather. While there he was exposed to drugs, but never
partook because he felt no desire. A friend in high school had been trying
to get Harris to try marijuana for some time. He said he'd always refused,
but one night he was finally persuaded to try smoking pot when his friend
found two girls to accompany them to the Orange County Fair. For the next
three months, he said, he spent his time getting high on some sort of
substance, legal or illegal. One day while taking a short cut through a
parking lot on his motorcycle he had a wreck that broke his back. He was
then in a body cast for a time with his friends coming to visit and he
began to rethink drug use. When he finally was taken out of the body cast
and was wearing a walking cast, his friends took him out to celebrate. He
said he got high again, but didn't really like it anymore. About a month
later, his father arranged for Harris to move back to Arkansas. He did and
found himself in an environment where drugs weren't as prevalent and he
decided then never to get high again. Now, he explained, he feels his sole
purpose in the drug trade is to break the chain. By taking dope away from
one person, it might keep it out of the hands of another person who has a
friend Hess been trying to convince to try drugs. Every day that doesn't
happen is one more day a young person is kept from illicit drugs. "That's
the only reason I do this," Harris said.

What now? After lunch, the group was asked to roll up sleeves, loosen ties
and come up with ideas on how to prevent drug use in the community.
Prosecuting Attorney Ron Kincade told the group that the best way to
prevent drug abuse is educating children to the dangers. He said it was his
understanding that most drug-interdiction programs in elementary schools
begin about the fifth grade. He urged officials to begin that program as
early as kindergarten because by the time a child reaches fifth grade they
might already be too far gone. "You're not going to be able to reach out
and get them back," Kincade told the group. NADAP director Parton told
Kincade there would be no reason to "reinvent the wheel" since
drug-prevention curriculum already is in lower elementary schools, but
teachers don't have time to initiate those classes because "parents aren't
doing their jobs." And in discussion for the remainder of the afternoon,
the group's general was that poor parenting skills are the most important
problem related to the growing epidemic of drug abuse. Some suggested
classes for parents, even for older parents with grown children involved
with drugs so they would be able to help stop their adult children from
using drugs. The second most important step in combating drug abuse and one
that was in part related to parenting was to force actual prison time for
unrepentant drug abusers. School officials said one problem is that when
parents are arrested for drug-related offenses and children removed from
the homes, those potential defendants are back on the streets and children
placed back in the home. That is sending a wrong message to children that
there is no actual punishment involved with arrest. Attention was called to
the fact that no Department of Human Services caseworkers or members of the
judiciary were present at the summit even though they all were invited. The
group decided the third best way to fight drug abuse is to raise community
awareness of the actual dangers of methamphetamine use, the peripheral
problems associated with it and involving more adults in public programs.

Number four and five respectively on the list were earlier education and
giving young people alternative programs in order to keep them away from
potential drug use. After the session, the list of priorities was to be
given to Kincade's office for a decision about implementing the plan to
help fight drug abuse in the community.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For more information on the methamphetamine problem or for
services available to addicts and their families, call NADAP (Andrea
Parton) at (870) 741-9131.