A SURFACING DRUG CULTURE: NUMBER OF ARRESTS, VOLUME OF DRUGS SEIZED

When Jason Wark was 8 years old he ground up his Ritalin tablets and
snorted them through a straw, just like he saw in the movies.

Eleven years later, at age 19, Wark is a recovering addict who has tried
and abused nearly every drug on the street.

While a student at Montana State University, he'd take breaks and shoot up
in the bathroom. He couldn't get through the day without a fix.

Not every drug user abuses to the same degree, but Wark, a Bozeman
resident, believes there are more users, both addicts and casual users, in
Gallatin Valley than most people realize or care to admit.

"Drugs are an epidemic," Wark said. "Every person uses, or every class of
person, I mean. Bankers, store managers, people who sell cars. They could
look like the most outstanding, normal citizen of Gallatin County and they
could use more than the straight-up street junkie."

The number of arrests, pounds of drugs seized and influx of new, dangerous
drugs documented by area law enforcement support Wark's contention that
drug use is growing in Gallatin County.

But police also say drug use is like water underground -- it's always been
there, but is just now being brought to the surface.

"Really, the big picture hasn't changed a whole lot," said Bozeman Police
Detective Steve Crawford, who is also a Missouri River Drug Task Force
agent. "It's the same people doing the same stuff on a different day-2002
started off pretty much the way 1997 ended."

It's just that now, more users are getting caught.

Task force agents arrested 403 people for drug offenses last year, compared
to just 25 in 1994, when the unite was created. With nine agents, the task
force is responsible for drug investigations in Gallatin, Park, Sweet
Grass, Madison, Lewis and Clark, Broadwater and Meagher counties.

Last year, agents seized 90 pounds of marijuana and 1.5 pounds of
methamphetamine, compared to 37 pounds of marijuana and 1.4 pounds of
methamphetamine during the first year of the task force's operation.

Throughout that time span, marijuana has consistently been the most
popular, or widely used, drug in the valley, said Lt. Jeffrey Wade, task
force commander.

Every year, agents gain more drug intelligence and better informants,
leading to bigger busts, they say. Three years ago, agents found 117 pounds
of marijuana hidden inside a truck parked inside of a Belgrade storage shed.

But methamphetamine, a synthetic drug that stimulates the central nervous
system, has gained a foothold in the community since the early 1990s and
its use exploded in 1995, Wade said.

Probably the first big bust of a clandestine meth lab in Gallatin County
was in 1985, said Bill Pronovost, former sheriff's deputy and the first
task force commander. He retired in 1999 and is now police chief in West
Yellowstone.

"That was the first one I ever saw," Pronovost said. "All the Bunsen
burners and glassware. I didn't even know what that stuff was. I just knew
it was involved in making drugs."

New kicks on the block

These days, task force busts 12 to 20 meth labs a year. Just last month,
three labs were discovered and dismantled.

But Crawford said that's just a hint of a much bigger problem.

"It's definitely not all of them, and we're not getting the majority of
them," Crawford said.

Meth is "the poor man's coke," drug experts say. It doesn't have to be
imported, but can be "cooked" nearly anywhere using common, household
ingredients -- anything from battery acid and drain cleaner to red
phosphorous found on matchstick tips. Hundreds of recipes can be found on
the Web.

And in addition to being illegal, meth, or crank, is considered the most
dangerous drug in the valley. It's highly addictive; causes itchy, open
sores; causes teeth to turn black and fall out; and produces feelings of
anxiety, paranoia and panic.

Meth was Wark's drug of choice, but even he agrees the stuff is "scary."

"It can have you curled up on the floor, crying like a baby because you're
hearing voices and they're telling you they are going to kill you," Wark
said. "Or you can feel like you're invincible. You're God and you can do
anything."

From the point of view of the cops, MDMA, better known as ecstasy for the
stimulating sense of calm it causes, is the new drug on the block. In 2000,
it was nonexistent in the task force's statistics. By the end of 2001, it
was the third most popular drug.

In tablet or pill form, ecstasy is a club drug, often used at parties and
raves, allowing users to dance for hours on end. It is cropping up more in
Bozeman, a college town, than it is in Helena, where meth is predominant,
Wade said.

But Wark said ecstasy has been on the drug scene for much longer than a
couple of years.

"What's happened is that more people are learning about it, what it can do
and how to get it," Wark said. "Nothing's really changed in the last 10 years."

Closing in on bigger busts

One of the other significant changes drug agents are seeing is the
increased abuse and fraud surrounding prescription drugs.

People are forging prescriptions, impersonating doctors, doubling up on
medications -- anything to get their hands on extra dosages, Crawford said.

"It's the big hidden crime," Crawford said. "That's one where we are only
seeing the tip of the iceberg. In every pharmacy in Bozeman, someone is
obtaining drugs they shouldn't have."

Wade readily admits the task force is doing little about abuse of
prescription drugs for one simple reason -- "We don't have the manpower."

The task force, with a total of nine agents in seven counties, is taxed
just trying to cover existing cases. Last year, the task force opened 814
new cases, worked on 274 old cases and identified 719 "new criminal
subjects." Of the 403 people arrested for drug offenses, 197 were in
Gallatin County.

How things change. Pronovost remembers the day when detectives didn't
investigate a drug case "unless it was handed to us on a silver platter. We
just didn't have time to do the investigations."

But a burgeoning drug culture and increasing amount of drug busts during
traffic stops prompted the birth of a city/county drug task force in 1990.
At the time, Pronovost wondered whether there would be enough work to keep
a dedicated drug unit busy.

But all they had to do was start looking.

At first agents were called out for misdemeanor traffic offenses. But they
soon started tackling larger, more complicated busts, and today, cases can
take six to 12 months to investigate before a request for prosecution is filed.

"They're getting away from the users and moving up into the dealers and
distributors," said Todd Whipple, Gallatin County deputy attorney. "We're
seeing more significant drug transactions."

But the task force has its critics, who believe it takes too long to file
charges against suspects.

In one case, a person was investigated, but charges weren't filed until a
year later, said Bozeman defense attorney Jennifer Bordy. By that time, her
client had stopped using and selling drugs.

"What about this idea of swift justice?" Bordy asked. "If (drug agents)
really believe these people are selling drugs, then why are they allowing
them to keep putting drugs out on the street for a year or more?"

Police have up to five years to file charges in drug cases. But more
importantly and without apology, Crawford said charges aren't filed to
protect the identities of confidential informants. No informant has been
harmed after helping the task force that Crawford was aware of, and he
wants to keep it that way.

"Keeping my (informants) safe is something I'm completely dedicated to," he
said.

Most informants are former task force targets who cooperate in exchange for
reduced charges or lesser sentences.

"You're always trying to get the person who distributes more than the
person you've just caught," Wade said. "That's what its all about."

That's why task force agents often don't call attention to their "big"
busts -- they say they want to give their latest suspect a chance to become
their newest informant.

A slew of patrol cars, officers and yellow tape outside the suspects' home
would actually cause more harm than good, they say, if the suspect goes
back out on the street as an informant.

"The majority of citizens can't comprehend the drug culture or how
extensive it is because it's so different from their own lives," Whipple
said. "I don't think the drug war is being fought in the public eye. It's
still somewhat hidden and secret, but it's there."