METH ENSLAVES THE CHILDREN OF USERS

I look down at my hand, full of methamphetamine. Without the tattered
sandwich bag, the stuff would be running through my fingers. The
crystals are faintly tan, not quite like raw sugar. They vary from
salt granules to the size of sunflower seeds. At times I've seen
crystals as long as golf tees. They always sound like tinkling glass
when I pour them out of their packaging.

This morning I have this bag of methamphetamine. In many ways, it is
typical, like thousands of other bags I've had. But something about
this bag breaks me out of my routine. I stop to think about what this
sample means.

As a forensic scientist for the Washington State Patrol, I analyze
drug samples from police agencies all over Southwest Washington. In a
typical day I might see heroin, cocaine, marijuana, "magic" mushrooms
or abused prescription drugs like OxyContin or methadone. But the
drug we see most often is methamphetamine.

When I look at methamphetamine, I don't think about money or the
drug-pimp images that Hollywood tries to pass off on our youth. I
think of destitute mothers and vigorous young men turned into gaunt,
violent paranoids. And I think of the officers who risk so much to
make these seizures.

Methamphetamine is a tyrant. It commands absolute loyalty from its
adherents. It systematically undermines a person's sense of
self-worth. Small compromises give way to larger ones, and all social
ties are corroded.

You would think methamphetamine would isolate people, but meth
worship propagates through a community. To fund his habit, a meth
user must constantly hunt for new converts. But there is another way
in which methamphetamine pulls unwitting victims into its net. And
that is through the children born into meth slavery.

Few people realize how powerfully methamphetamine amplifies a user's
libido. This little-publicized side effect increases sexual arousal
and desire in both men and women. While it actually decreases a man's
ability to experience climax, it doesn't decrease a woman's
fertility. It only clouds her judgment and destroys her inhibitions.
The loss of this discernment, the tenuous associations of the
subculture, and the occult nature of the addiction all conspire
against the young woman who strays into this wasteland.

The young man may not even learn he has sired offspring. If he even
hears about the pregnancy, methamphetamine may have so eroded his
integrity that he consciously abandons the mother and child. The
young woman cannot so easily slip the bridle of consequences.

Alarmingly frequent pregnancies leave many women raising underweight,
premature babies. In spite of a bankrupt social network and the
inability to maintain employment, these young mothers struggle on.

An addicted parent may lock her toddler in a basement or a garage to
keep him "safe" while she is away obtaining her next dose. I'll be
back soon, she tells herself, only to be gone for days on end. Child
Protective Services gets involved when neighbors can no longer
tolerate the wailing of an abandoned child.

About half the time, an addicted parent is incapacitated even when
she is on the premises. After roving for many nights in a row, her
internal reserves are utterly depleted. She may sleep in near
catatonia for days on end, literally unrousable.

The child is left to fend for himself. Meanwhile, methamphetamine
percolates through his lungs and clings to his clothing. Every toy he
plays with is bought with drug money. Scores of blunted,
self-absorbed men intersect his life as they do business with and/or
exploit his mother. Without dramatic intervention, the child will
become one of them.

I finish my analysis and seal up the evidence. I may see this sample
in court some day if I am called to testify. I may meet the officer
who made the arrest. I probably won't thank him or her, but maybe I should.

Ultimately, the samples in my box will be destroyed. That may take
months. In the mean time, it will sit on a shelf in some police
agency's evidence vault. Regardless of how long that takes, I know
this handful of poison will never enrich another drug dealer, never
again be fought over, and never enslave another child.

John Dunn is a forensic scientist at the Washington State Patrol
Vancouver Crime Laboratory