AREA LAWMEN SEE RE-EMERGENCE OF DRUG POPULAR IN '70S (1/9)

Narcotics investigators with the Lake Charles Police Department said they
are seeing increased usage of phencyclidine (PCP) among drug users. The
drug, which was widely used in the 1970s by narcotics abusers, was first
seen in the city six years ago.

"Gradually it has come back. The increase has been tenfold," said Lt. Mike
John-son, head of the police department's special services division.

Users are dipping marijuana into the liquid form of PCP. This practice is
called "fry."

Other street names for PCP are Angel Dust, Supergrass, Killer Weed,
Embalming Fluid, Rocket Fuel, wack and ozone.

City dealers are purchasing the drug in Houston, which continues to be the
main pipeline for illegal drugs across the Gulf Coast, John-son said.

Last year, LCPD narcotics investigators arrested one person for dealing
PCP. But the drug is normally found on users while they are being arrested,
said narcotics investigators.

"We've found people unconscious on the street smiling after they used the
PCP," said narcotics detective Cpl. Todd Chaddick.

During those arrests, the user normally has common streets drugs in their
possession, like "crack" cocaine and marijuana.

"What is interesting about PCP is that it deadens motor skills, and the
person feels like they are in a movie. Everything seems to slow down to
them," Chaddick commented.

That effect leads some users to distort reality.

"They don't think things are real when we are putting handcuffs on them.
And sometimes they will tell us who they purchased the drug from," said
Chaddick.

Investigators said area PCP users range from ages 17-25, even though older
users have been arrested.

What is also interesting about current usage, according to investigators,
is that the drug is being found among white and black drug users.

At one time PCP was mainly used by white drug abusers, the investigators said.

In Lake Charles, marijuana cigarettes, dipped in PCP, have a street value
of $5. One gram of the drug in liquid form has an approximate street value
of $50.

Investigators said that since the PCP market has grown, illegal producers
are making more of it, driving down street prices.

Psychological effects on users are a cause of concern for narcotics
investigators.

A Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) fact sheet states that "in some users PCP
use may result in acute anxiety, a feeling of impending doom, paranoia,
violent hostility, and, in some it may produce a psychoses
indistinguishable from schizophrenia."

At one time the drug was produced as a human anesthetic and a veterinary
anesthetic. It is no longer produced legally for those purposes.

According to the DEA, most PCP is produced in "clandestine laboratories."

Johnson said parents and family members should be suspicious if their loved
ones have small bottles, vanilla extract bottles or experience mood swings.

"When a user is off the drug, they are real edgy," he said.