MANUFACTURING AN EPIDEMIC

As Prevalence Of Meth Increases, So Does Danger

From the back of cars and vans to the middle of peach groves, from the
streets of Macon to some of Middle Georgia's smallest counties, police are
battling a deadly new enemy that scares even them.

It's methamphetamine, a drug that can be nearly as dangerous for the
authorities who fight it as for the addicts who use them.

"There's nothing nice about this drug," Crisp County Sheriff Donnie
Haralson said. "It kills the people who take it, and it can kill the people
who investigate it. That's a danger we face every day."

In Haralson's county, luck came in threes Friday for members of the
Midsouth Narcotics Task Force.

They arrested three people on drug charges, confiscated three active
methamphetamine labs and rescued three juveniles, including an infant, from
homes where the toxic drug was being cooked.

They also braved the three dangers faced by police every time they find a
"meth" lab - being shot, blown up or overcome by the chemicals used to make
the drug.

"You can get real hurt in a meth lab," said Macon Police investigator
Raymond Cross. "You can take the wrong step, and something can blow up.
What people don't realize is this is nothing to play with."

"It can be very dangerous, especially at the beginning of the cooking
process," said Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Ken McCloud.
"This is not something idiots should do, and most of the time it's idiots
who are doing it."

More bang for the buck

Since 1999, Middle Georgia law enforcement agencies say, they have seen a
huge increase in methamphetamine manufacturing and use. They say the drug,
which speeds up the central nervous system, is inexpensive to make and can
be cooked from items bought at any hardware store.

It comes in three forms: a white, odorless powder that easily dissolves in
water; clear, chunky crystals that look like rock salt; and small, brightly
colored tablets.

Methamphetamine cooks mix various household and farm products together to
extract the drug from cold tablets.

While many California labs are large, elaborate operations, said the DEA's
McCloud, most of those found in Middle Georgia have been "mom-and-pop"
shops, "just a bunch of pickle jars and hot plates."

"But they're still dangerous," he said.

Local officials say methamphetamine users can pay from $20 to $25 for a hit
or from $45 to $50 a hit for ice, a smokable, clear form of the drug.

"A person can pay $20 for a hit of crack cocaine and get high for a couple
of hours or he can pay $20 for a hit of meth and get high for eight to 36
hours," said a Georgia Bureau of Investigation undercover officer involved
in Friday's Crisp County bust, who asked that he not be identified. "What
choice do you think they will make? It's more bang for their buck."

Officials estimate that meth cooks can make more than $5,000 in profit from
a $200 investment in materials - if they don't take the drug.

But most cooks are also addicts, said Houston County sheriff's Sgt. Wayne
Franklin: "They stay up for days, and all they have to do is make more meth."

A Middle Georgia 'plague'

Meth has been a problem on the West Coast since the early 1990s and made
its way to Georgia just before the new millennium, said the DEA's McCloud.

Now, it's considered the No. 1 drug problem in many Georgia counties, the
undercover GBI agent said Friday. Officials say state and federal
investigators and chemists are joining local agencies in investigating more
than 10 busts a week in Middle Georgia.

Toward the end of 1999, Houston County's Franklin investigated his first
two methamphetamine labs. He has worked more than 200 meth lab cases in the
three years since.

While meth also appears in more urban counties, like Bibb, authorities say
meth manufacturers seem drawn to Middle Georgia's rural counties. In
smaller counties, such as Peach, people have traveled from other parts of
the state to cook the drug.

Authorities also have caught people stealing anhydrous ammonia from several
local farmers. The chemical is used in fertilizers but also is an
ingredient for meth cooks.

"Last year, it was like a plague because we were finding two or three labs
a week there for a while," said Peach County sheriff's Maj. Terry Deese,
whose county is part of the Middle Georgia Drug Task Force. "We've also set
up surveillance and caught people who drive up and steal the (chemical).
... It's like they told all their friends to come over to Peach County and
get some of this stuff."

Smaller departments have invested in special camera equipment to help their
investigations.

In smaller counties, such as Crisp, officials say they are being targeted
because meth cooks don't believe they'll be aggressively prosecuted. But
Haralson said the opposite is actually true. The county's Midsouth
Narcotics Task Force has busted seven labs in just three weeks, he said.

Fatal fires and fumes

On Web sites promoting the drug, meth cookers warn people just starting out
to watch their chemicals carefully through the entire process. Making the
drug can be toxic to cooks and those around them.

The vapors emitted when the chemicals are mixing together are considered
lethal. And several of the chemicals can explode if handled improperly.
They pose a threat to anyone who might come across them after the materials
have been discarded, Macon's Cross said.

"It poisons everything around them," Franklin said.

In Middle Georgia, the drug's dangers have led to a series of bizarre and
tragic incidents.

In January, Macon police busted a rolling meth lab after the car caught
fire in the parking lot of a business on Gray Highway. Although no one was
injured in the incident, three people were arrested and had to be stripped
and hosed down with water by the roadside before they were taken to jail.

Last year, two brothers died in Twiggs County after their van exploded as
they were driving down the road while cooking methamphetamines.

And officials in Bibb, Houston and Twiggs counties all say they have
answered fire calls caused by meth labs gone awry.

"We've had a lot of places that blow up or burn up and you discover it was
because they were cooking meth," said Middle Georgia Drug Task Force
investigator Bruce Jordan, who also works with the Bibb County Sheriff's
Office.

But many of those arrested are released on bond and get right back into the
habit of cooking and using the drug, Franklin said.

One of his most memorable arrests involved a man who had been convicted in
Houston County. Months later, after serving his sentence, he was arrested
again when he fell asleep in his car with drug paraphernalia in the trunk.

The suspect had a severe chemical burn down his leg that exposed the bone.
He apparently burned himself after spilling a chemical while cooking the
drug, Franklin said.

Dangerous and unpredictable

Although many busts result from tips from informants, most occur when
neighbors notice heavy traffic in front of a residence or a peculiar smell
in the air.

"If you smell a heavy amount of ether or ammonia coming from a house, that
is not normal," McCloud said. "People should always be on the lookout for
what's around them."

Meth labs have been found in just about every place imaginable in Middle
Georgia.

The labs have been busted in operation, after they've been discarded and
sometimes after explosions. People have been arrested cooking and selling
methamphetamines and stealing items used to make the drug.

The combination of deadly drugs and volatile felons make every meth bust
dangerous and unpredictable.

"These guys can be very violent individuals, and you never know what to
expect," said Peach County's Deese. "Some of them have cameras or motion
detectors set up in trees and around their house or they have booby traps
in place. Nothing is shocking anymore."

"This stuff can kill you and every one around you," said Franklin, who
doesn't go into a meth lab without a breathing apparatus and a protective
suit. "I've been in some places where I had to be pulled out because it was
so bad ... if I hadn't got out of there, I would have died, no doubt in my
mind about that."

When meth first hit Middle Georgia three or four years ago, many local
agencies contacted the DEA to work every case. Now many agencies have
received federal and state training to handle meth busts on their own.

Early on, McCloud was one of a handful of local DEA agents trained on
handling methamphetamine labs. Because the labs are highly toxic, federal
law mandates officers be certified in proper procedure before they can
dismantle the labs.

To clean up a methamphetamine lab site, the products and chemicals must
first be removed and properly disposed of. If the lab is found inside a
home, the building has to be aired out and thoroughly cleaned before anyone
can move back in.

"Any time meth is cooked, something is left behind," Macon investigator
Cross said. "Every time you go into a meth lab, you carry something away
with you. ... There's no way to escape it."

The DEA contracts with a Tennessee company to handle all of its cleanup
sites, McCloud said. Officials with Ferguson Harbor, Inc., declined to
comment about their cleanup efforts, a company spokesperson said.

In Friday morning's bust, agents with the Midsouth Narcotics task force
surrounded a south Crisp County mobile home. Informants had said it was a
haven for meth manufacturing.

When they stormed inside the house, police say, they found an active lab
and methamphetamines being made inside the kitchen refrigerator. They also
found a 16-year-old girl and her infant daughter living inside the house,
which was littered the chemicals and drug paraphernalia.

"That's the sad part of this story," Crisp County sheriff's Col. Billy
Hancock said. "Seeing what these kids are living in. If the fumes from this
stuff can kill adults, what do you think it does to innocent children?"

No end in sight

This week, Gov. Sonny Perdue's floor leaders in the state Legislature will
introduce bills aimed at fighting methamphetamines.

One bill, said Perdue spokesman Shane Hix, would put limits on the sale of
anhydrous ammonia, one of the materials used to manufacture meth. Another
would create tougher penalties for the possession, manufacture and
distribution of the drug, Hix said.

In California, where the meth epidemic began, many law enforcement officers
have settled into their battle against the drug.

Dave Delgato, who works with the Ventura Police Department in Ventura,
Calif., said Georgia police should be prepared for a long-term fight with
offenders who don't care if they hurt themselves or others.

"Cocaine was the '80s drug, and meth took over in the '90s," Delgato said.
"This drug takes a person and changes everything about them. ... It doesn't
give them superhuman strength, but it makes them feel no pain ... that's
where the danger lies ... they don't feel anything."

Local investigators know they are just beginning their war against
methamphetamines - and there is no end in sight.

"We've made a dent in the cooking in Houston County, but we know there's
still a lot of selling going on," said Franklin. "When you get rid of one
lab, there are 10 more out there to take its place."