CRYSTAL METH SPEEDING INTO ALL WALKS OF LIFE

A basic premise in America is that faster is better. From instant tea to TV
dinners to sports, Pentium IV processors to G4 Powered Macs, if there's a
way to do something faster, we'll figure out how to do it.

That's a big reason why stimulant drugs have proliferated from the western
United States across to the eastern seaboard.

Speed drugs are a complex group of chemicals with one thing in common: They
can cause all sorts of problems for people who take them -- and all kinds
of people are taking them these days.

And not only are more people using speed, they're also using its most
hypercharged form -- crystal meth. The most potent form of speed in
methamphetamine. It is cooked in makeshift labs and sold on the street as a
powder, which is injected, snorted or swallowed. A smokable form of crystal
meth, called "ice," is also used.

The recent increase in crystal meth use and manufacture is of great concern
to law enforcement agencies in the state and Jones County. Meth has become
the popular drug of choice among the poor to middle-class populations. This
demographic of meth users employ the chemical anhydrous ammonia and
ordinary over-the-counter cold pills to "cook" their batches.

Jones County Sheriff Larry Dykes said he had never been in contact with
crystal meth users or the drugs until taking office in 2000.

"I was put on a crash course on meth," he said. "This is a drug problem we
will have to deal with for years to come. I just don't see a light at the
end of the tunnel."

According to the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, crystal meth drug arrests
almost tripled from 2001 to 2002. Part of the reason was the realization of
how widespread the drug and the labs that produce it had become. Crystal
meth arrests went from 312 in 2001 to 849 in 2002. Due to increased
pressure on the drug users and manufacturers, meth arrests dropped somewhat
- -- to 727 -- in 2003.

Southeast Mississippi Drug Task Force Commander Roger Williams said the
general public doesn't have a clue as to the extent crystal meth is used in
the county and state.

"I just did an in-service with ambulance personnel and they didn't know
just how much the drug was used out there," Williams said. "Part of that
reason is these people don't call an ambulance if they get in a bad way
with the drug because they know they'll be reported. They just tough it out."

Widely available in the 1960s, crystal meth faded in the '70s, as controls
on its use and distribution tightened. The use of the speed drug in those
days, however, was nowhere as diverse and prolific as it is today. That
fact helped to concentrate constraints and laws. Now, the drug has exploded
from it's resurgence in California in the 90's to the Carolinas today.

Crystal meth became the hot new high to a new generation of users too young
to know firsthand, or to have heard secondhand, the downside of uppers. The
downside is huge. Risks are so extreme because the drug works so well at
overamping the central nervous system and zapping feelings of hunger and
fatigue. The result is the same sort of physical stress that follows any
extreme exertion. The big difference is that speed users tend to stretch
the "speed runs" for days or weeks, without food or rest, putting
impossible demands on the body and brain.

For needle users, add in the hazards that come with injecting any drug. For
meth smokers, multiply it all by the still largely unknown risk factor of
exposing lung tissue to vaporized meth crystals. And you thought smoking a
cigarette was bad.

"The health hazard goes beyond the users in a lot of cases," said Williams.
"Because of the types of chemicals, which are wide ranging, that are used
to make this drug, fumes, fires, and explosion hazards are created. Again,
if something bad goes wrong, they aren't going to tell anyone but the
horror stories are out there."

Ever wonder why there aren't a whole lot of old speed freaks around in the
real world. They don't live long enough to get old.

In many ways, the human body is like a Timex watch in that it can take a
licking and keep on ticking. Still, the body isn't indestructible. Speed,
more than any drug group, pushes the mind and body faster and further than
either was meant to go. The long term effects on the physical well being of
a speed user are massive leading ultimately to organ damage, particularly
to the lungs and kidneys.

Then there are the mind games speed plays on the brain. Anxiety,
depression, chronic fatigue, delusions, paranoia, and violent behavior are
just a few of the mental imbalances which can occur.

"We've done surveillance on subjects who were mowing their lawn at 2 a.m.
naked," said Dykes. "These people are very unpredictable, moody, and
generally hard to figure out when they are strung out on this stuff."

Speed is highly addictive. To quit "cold turkey" has been compared to being
hit by a Mack truck over and over again. The body and brain, after having
been assaulted by the drug and its effects over a period of time, craves
the drug. For this reason, many who use the drug end up either dead or
shackled to it for a very long time.

Both Dykes and Williams said it is the public who is their main pipeline of
information and Williams added it is to the public's best interest, health
wise, to report anyone who may be suspected of operating a meth lab.

"Any strong, strange smell is a good indicator something different is going
on," Williams said. "I don't know how many of our investigations begin with
someone calling and telling us they smell something weird. The fumes,
normally of ammonia, can hurt you and others such as ether and alcohol are
naturally combustible and explosive."

But that is with the home made batches cooked locally in sheds and out in
the middle of wooded areas. What about crystal meth being brought into the
state.

"That is the purest of the mix," Williams said. "That mostly comes from
California and we really don't see much of it."

A total of 52.22 kilograms of methamphetamine were seized in highway
interdictions in the state according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse.

One of the main problems with detecting the use or manufacture of crystal
meth is the ingredients can be bought from any retail outlet or farm
implement store. That in itself shows just how inexpensive it can be to
make. Williams said it is important for business owners and managers to pay
attention to who is buying what and how much quantity.

"We don't' want to alarm anyone who is going in to buy some cold tablets
but if you go in and buy two-dozen packs of Sudafed, nobody has that bad a
cold," Williams said.

So what happens when a lab is found?

"We have to get someone to clean it up," said Dykes.

In years past, when labs were first being encountered, that cost was
normally footed by the local law enforcement agency but with the tidal wave
of cases has come a switch to the Department of Environmental Quality.

"The cleanups of the sites are considered hazardous waste areas," said a
spokesman for the DEQ. "The nature of the chemicals, and the different
mixtures, constitute some pretty bad things."

The average cost to clean up a site is in the range of $5,000 depending on
many variables. The DEQ calls in contractors to do the actual work but the
bill is paid by taxpayers of Mississippi.

"That is a burden on the taxpayer we are constantly trying to wipe out
along with the drug," said Dykes. "If we can get rid of the drug, we can
get rid of that financial burden as well."

There is no way for Dykes, Williams, or anyone else to see what may be the
breaking point in crystal meth manufacture and use. Some say it may come
when the drug is replaced by something else -- a hot drug -- that will
steer future generations away from their current addiction. But the fact is
crystal meth is here and the future is now.

"Will it go away?" Dykes asked rhetorically, "I don't see it happening."