MONSTER METH: POLICE ALWAYS FIGHTING

They bust in doors and storm into homes on "Cops" and other TV reality
shows. Indeed, narcotics officers are the foot soldiers in a war to stop the
proliferation of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs.

By going into potential drug houses in body armor and firepower, there is an
intimidation factor, but also common sense, according to Darrell Collins,
commander of the DeKalb County Drug Task Force.

"Along with drugs, we've seized 37 firearms this year, including assault
rifles and sawed off shotguns," Collins said. "The people we deal with are
armed. Using meth results in extreme paranoia. We must approach any
situation like it could turn deadly."

Meth labs are toxic and require great care because of explosive, deadly
fumes. Collins said a chemical disposal company from Chattanooga or
Birmingham is called in to decontaminate raided labs.

"There have been several instances where the Department of Human Resources
has been called because we found children present while there was cooking,"
Collins said. "It is our policy to call DHR because a child who has been
around that needs to be checked medically."

Between Jan. 1 and April 4 of this year, the task force discovered 14 meth
labs in operation in DeKalb County. There were 26 arrests for possession of
meth and13 arrests for manufacturing, compared to 16 marijuana arrests, zero
for powdered cocaine and two for crack cocaine, he said.

The Task Force employs four full-time agents and five part-time agents. Once
paired with Cherokee County, the teams split because the caseload in each
county had grown large enough to justify this.

District Attorney Mike O'Dell said the task force is a collaboration of
resources between DeKalb County, Fort Payne and Collinsville. Ben Baxley
prosecutes drug cases and the DA's office often provides legal and technical
assistance when search warrants are served.

This can be especially hazardous because meth users feel larger-than-life.
From 1942 until his suicide, for example, it is widely rumored Nazi leader
Adolf Hitler received daily injections of meth from his personal physician,
which may partially explain the Fuhrer's maniacal behavior.

Methamphetamine presents a unique challenge today because, unlike marijuana
fields that can be viewed from the air or cocaine that can be seized at a
border, it is easily available by combining household chemicals available at
the corner market. Merchants have been educated about the products used to
make meth and now keep them in smaller quantities, O'Dell said.

Still, it is difficult to stop a drug that people crave so desperately and
can cheaply, easily make. Unlike other drugs, every addict could be a
dealer.

"Pseudoephedrine is a key component," Collins said. "If there was some way
to manufacture it without someone being able to separate the ephedrine, that
would do a lot of good, but I suppose people would just try to sneak it in
from other countries."

Local authorities first noticed meth in DeKalb County in August 1986, when
two Hells Angels from California were arrested for cooking dope in the
Fischer community, Collins said. The current meth binge started from Marion
County, Tenn. and spread into Alabama. Police departments across the country
have now received training to spot signs of meth activity in their
jurisdictions.

"Meth started to become a real problem around 1998, and in 2000, we started
having more meth-related cases than marijuana," Collins said.

The task force received a grant that year to deal with the growing problem,
while State Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, sponsored a bill, now law, giving
the police greater arrest powers.

"It takes $5,000 a month to keep this operation going with gas, phone and
money to make undercover buys with," Collins said.

Although salaries are paid out of the participating agencies, the task force
uses seized cash and vehicles to further battle drugs.

"Probably 90 percent of the people in the DeKalb County Jail right now would
test positive for methamphetamine," Collins said. "Either they get caught
with it, making it or stealing something to pay for more of it."

Of all the drugs, he believes crystal meth is the hardest to overcome, but
he has seen people turn their lives around for the better.

"When these people get cleaned up, then they are nice to us," Collins said.

He recalled one meth user who was so paranoid of him and another agent that
he obsessed over whether they were staked out in a neighbor's barn across
the street.

"He bought the barn and drove a truck through it," Collins said.

Police are one part of the equation, and Collins praised the Drug Court and
Court Referral for the way they work with officers.

"We have a good relationship, and they are a good bunch of professional
people," he said.