METH AMONG US: THE DANGERS OF THIS POOR MAN'S COCAINE

BURNETT COUNTY--Slow-moving bodies wrapped tightly in bright yellow
suits emerge from a backwoods shack, their hands and feet covered in
thick plastic, faces shielded by thick black masks.

Some sort of invasion of the body snatchers? An undisclosed government
nuclear site gone awry? No, just the safety precautions needed to
enter one of potentially dozens of clandestine methamphetamine labs
throughout Burnett County.

Anyone still think meth isn't as dangerous as any other drug out
there? If you answer yes, you're wrong.

"Meth is a very dangerous. It's not looked at as a casual drug,"
Burnett County Sheriff Tim Curtin said. "If you're using meth, you're
a hard-core user."

Dubbed "poor man's cocaine" because of it's similarity to the more
notorious drug, methamphetamines typically cost less than crack
cocaine and produce a longer-lasting high for users because the human
body metabolizes it more slowly.

But where the side effects and risks associated with cocaine use seem
fairly well known, the word cocaine itself instantly raises red flags
for most people when mentioned, the damage meth can do seemingly lags
far behind its rapid increase of both users and producers across
Wisconsin and the midwest.

A form of stimulant, meth users will pass off its use saying the drug
helps them lose weight, gives them an energy boost or allows them so
stay up late if the need arises. What they don't normally add is the
list of other effects, which are as severe as any other drug on the
market.

According to a pamphlet titled "Life or Meth," produced by the Midwest
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (MHIDTA), an organization
developed federally by executive office in 1996 to fight drug use in
the central midwest states, effects of meth are severe and extremely
damaging.

Teeth turn yellow, gray or black and may fall out; your body's organs,
muscle and fat literally cook themselves due to elevated body
temperatures; your body produces bad odors that smell of glue or
mayonnaise; you'll get meth or crank "bugs" where it feels like
imaginary bugs are crawling under your skin and you'll create open
sores to try and get at them; you'll hallucinate people are after you,
hiding and waiting to attack you; and you become extremely twitchy.

In listing how to deal with "tweakers," or frequent meth users, the
pamphlet's tips could easily be transferred for how to deal with
trapped, wild animals.

Any closure of distance, quick movements, rapid speech, bright lights
or even too much silence can instantly be perceived as threatening to
a tweaker. At that point, the drug has taken over and in many cases,
paranoid thoughts are all that enters the user's mind.

In seconds, they can literally become dangerous human
animals.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Throw in many other symptoms,
including memory loss, violent mood swings, severe depression,
convulsions, acne, numbness, seizures, strokes, even death and meth
would appear to non-users the perfect example of everything wrong with
illicit drugs.

So how is this drug, originally produced and controlled by motorcycle
gangs in California, steadily making its way into northwestern
Wisconsin and the bodies of its citizens at an ever-increasing rate?

For one reason, it feels extremely good ... the first
time.

"I've been told the first time you use it, it's the most euphoric high
you'll every find," said Burnett County Sheriff's Department
Investigator Tracy Finch. But as with many illicit materials, that
initial high is impossible to ever achieve again. "You'll never get
it, but you keep trying and the more you use, the more effects it has
and eventually, it's all you need.

"It affects your liver, kidneys and heart like cocaine, but it's
stronger," Finch said. "It's also very similar to heroine for the
level of addiction. It's very powerful."

Last September, Finch became the only member of Burnett County's law
enforcement team and one of a handful of northwestern Wisconsin
officers to be certified to be able to enter clandestine meth labs and
dismantle them.

In other words, she's the one wearing the space suit described at the
beginning of this article.

After receiving an invitation from the state of Wisconsin, Finch spent
five days at the FBI's headquarters in Quantico, Virginia taking part
in a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) course designed to teach officers
the chemistry involved in making and cleaning up meth. By all
accounts, it's extremely dangerous work.

Finch tells the story of one Oklahoma City patrol officer who entered
a meth lab, bent down and lifted a mattress corner up and lost 60
percent of her lung capacity by inhaling hazardous meth materials.

Even in Burnett County, she recalls one camper trailer explosion and
fire caused by a meth lab blunder. "Somebody had to have gotten
burned," she said.

Just to enter the labs, Finch and her certified counterparts must don
a biohazard suit, two layers of gloves, neoprene boots with covers,
carry a clean-air breathing apparatus and tape any seams in the suit
with chemical-resistant tape.

Once inside, officers must test every substance and liquid they find
for meth-positive results and to determine whether they're base or
acidic materials. Any mix up, any spills, could result in an explosion.

So if trained officers are forced take these levels of precaution, how
is the average Joe Blow able to set up a lab, produce a product in as
little as 20 minutes, then make up to several hundred dollars on
material that can be smoked, inhaled, eaten, injected, or mixed with a
variety of other drugs?

The answers might not be as far away or hard to get as one would
imagine.

Not only are countless materials available in print describing in
specific detail how to make methamphetamines, anyone with general
knowledge of the world-wide web could find similar information in minutes.

"It isn't hard to find out how to make it. There are actual recipes on
the internet," Finch said, leading her to believe the number of labs
as yet unidentified by police just in Burnett County alone are
numerous. "There's hundreds out there. I know there is."

One such source Finch has in her possession is a book titled "The
Construction And Operation of Clandestine Drug Laboratories." This is
the second edition of a how-to manual for everything anyone wanting to
start their own meth lab needs to know and a good representation of
the materials aiding in the rise of meth use and production.

Although the book's author, Jack B. Nimble, legally covers himself by
stating they don't intend readers to produce or sell products
"intended for any illegal or unethical use," the Table of Contents
lends belief to the contrary.

Among chapters describing how to make meth and providing detailed
diagrams of chemical labs and what the "ideal" clandestine lab should
look like, the book describes how to make illegal purchases by
inventing make-believe companies; how to stock up on supplies by
falsifying names, addresses, phone numbers and even people; the pros
and cons of including a partner and how it may affect profit margins;
how to quickly dispose of a lab should it be discovered; and gives
detailed appendixes of chemicals and laboratory equipment watched by
law officers and reported by legitimate companies.

Perhaps most disturbing to police agencies is not only how readily
prepared a reader could be to begin meth production, but how confident
such materials make them feel they can not only succeed, but have a
good time. A good drug producer is a benefit to their community, the
book insinuates, and is essentially hurting no one.

"It is my sincere hope the information I present here is used with
good intent," the book's Preface reads. "Clandestine chemistry can be
grossly profitable. It is unfortunate that good ideals are often lost
in the midst of huge profits. This book is for those wonderful people
who value freedom and the human spirit above money and power. Perhaps
if these people begin to voice their opinions more, the day of
responsible drug use, manufacture and control will become a reality."

Meanwhile, non-skilled chemists continue producing dangerous,
highly-volatile materials right in our backyards.

As MHIDTA explains, breathing toxic lab fumes can result in
irreparable damage to nasal passages, lungs and brain, and pose
extreme dangers to neighboring persons.

Barns, outbuildings, hotel rooms, apartments and storage sheds most
often used for labs can easily contain dangerous liquids either
spilled or dumped in drains that pose health risks for future
unsuspecting visitors.

The same chemicals are being buried, dumped onto the ground or in
streams and lakes, or simply left behind creating the same risks to
the environment.

Yet as citizens, public officials and law enforcement agencies are
asking more and more often, what can be done to stop it?

(See Part III in next week's Sentinel to learn what local police
departments are doing to fight methamphetamines and what, in their words,
they need from the public to win.)