Special Report

Smoking, snorting, shooting their lives away

By Brandon Tubbs
Star Staff Writer
11-16-2003

Drain cleaner. Paint thinner. Ether, battery acid and antifreeze. The ingestion of any one of these chemicals would result in a 911 call. The skull and crossbones mark their ability to kill. Yet, across Alabama and beyond, thousands of people pump into their bodies a poisonous concoction they hope will get them high. Crystal methamphetamine. Meth, as it’s both called and cursed, has done more than become a modern-day moonshine with its stills of coffee filters, blenders and propane tanks. Drug experts and narcotics officers say it has become America’s most popular and most dangerous drug, exceeding the use of any other substance that has latched its deadly, addictive hands on America. The meth epidemic has spread faster than all other drugs, authorities say. The problem is going to worsen before it improves. “It’s a spreading cancer,” said Anniston police Chief John Dryden. Its prognosis is that simple; officers say curing the epidemic is not so simple. From January to September 2002, in the counties roughly north of a line running from Pickens to Randolph, some 450 meth labs were seized and about 700 defendants were charged with manufacturing the drug known as the poor-man’s crack, according to a methamphetamine survey conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Birmingham. Folks living in states that have dealt with meth much longer than Alabama know that its dangers go beyond a bunch of druggies who are useless to society but who pose a threat. They are the ones who now do most of the stealing, much of the shooting, and who are bringing crime to areas that previously had been only on the fringe of lawlessness. “Anytime something really weird happens here – steal a truck or a tank – we know that meth is involved,” said Angela Goldberg, facilitator for the San Diego County Methamphetamine Strike Force. “It’s a constant reminder that meth is a very ugly drug.” Unleashing a rampage Peggy Taylor knows the ugliness of drug abuse. “I’ve seen the enemy,” she said. Two of her sons died when they overdosed on Oxycontin. Two others also abused drugs. One son and a daughter-in-law are in rehabilitation for meth, leaving her to raise her grandchildren. The son was her most affectionate child, she said. They would talk about their days and hug one another, but when he was high, he wouldn’t talk, except when he was in jail or needed the bills paid. “He’s not my Phillip,” Taylor said. “He’s not the son I raised.” It’s the drug, said Taylor’s niece, Vicki Gowens. “You’re not dealing with the person; you’re dealing with the drug,” she said. Meth makes the person feel superhuman, unstoppable, she said. In California, a man high on meth snatched a National Guard tank and drove the wrong way down the interstate in a rampage, according to the Strike Force Web site. In Anniston, two weeks ago, a suspected meth user shot a man because he didn’t like his music. He shot him not in the dead of night, but around 7 p.m., and not in a back alley, but at a convenience store on Quintard Avenue, where 45,000 cars pass daily. In neighboring Etowah County, the sheriff there said meth played a role in homicide-suicide. A man killed several family pets, his three children and then himself. In parts of Missouri, the prevalence of meth byproducts has killed the bacteria that treat sewage in treatment plants, according to a Missouri highway patrol commander. “People on meth seem to be more dangerous and more violent than the others,” said Calhoun County Sheriff Larry Amerson. Calhoun-Cleburne Assistant District Attorney Brian Howell said in Dalton, Ga., Hispanics have moved in, helping the “good ole boys” meet the demand for meth. “With the epidemic we’re looking at with … meth … – that may be something down the road,” Howell said, seeing Dalton’s scenario in Calhoun County’s future. Throughout America, parents neglect their children as they work instead to get the all-mighty high from meth’s changeling mixture. The children grow up breathing deadly gases in homes that have more toxic chemicals than food. They run around naked. Exactly how many cases with the Department of Human Resources are related to meth is unknown. The department has no specific data available for that. Authorities say more often than not, though, children are present at meth labs. According to data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System for the state, from May through September, 49 cases were related to parental alcohol abuse; 346 were due to parental drug abuse; one related to child alcohol abuse; and 15 were related to child alcohol abuse. In Calhoun County, five cases were related to parental alcohol abuse and 28 were related to parental drug abuse. No cases were reported for child substance abuse in Calhoun County. With the combination of heat sources and combustible materials, the likelihood of fire and explosion is great. Weapons also are often present. Grown children steal from their parents and adults are stealing from their neighbors. “They can be hugging you and stealing your checkbook at the same time,” Gowens said. Piedmont police Chief David Paslay said 40 percent of the property crimes in his city are committed by meth addicts. “All the thefts, burglaries that we actually make an arrest on and get property back, every one is due to meth,” Paslay said. Rural residents are finding, more and more, that their lawn mowers, chainsaws and weed trimmers are missing. Sometimes, if not often, it’s because their children are stealing the goods, being so bold as to walk into their parents’ home and walk out with the television. “We’re filling up the jails with the people who are making meth,” Amerson said. Roots of a killer Amphetamine originated in the 19th century. German chemist L. Edeleano synthesized the drug, originally named phenylisopropylamine, in 1887. The drug was essentially forgotten for the next 40 years. A Japanese scientist synthesized meth in 1919. During World War II, troops used the drugs to improve performance. Local authorities say the drug was used for kamikaze warfare. Later, amphetamine was discovered to increase blood pressure, treat congestion, narcolepsy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The American Medical Association approved the sale of tablet-form amphetamine in 1937. The United States dispensed the drug to troops in Korea between 1950 and 1953. No one knows how meth spread across America. Several authorities say biker gangs rode it across the country. The spread of meth may be attributed to three men who had developed suitcase-like kits containing the basic ingredients of meth – among others, the ephedrine commonly found in most cold medicines. Two of the men were caught, one got away. Some say all America’s meth labs, spread over hills and hollows, may trace to that one kit. The Calhoun-Cleburne Drug and Violent Crime Task Force first started seeing meth in the mid- to late 1990s. An employee at Blue Mountain Industries was ordering the ingredients at company expense and operating a meth lab inside the plant, according to task force commander Lt. Richard Smith. From there, the addiction steadily climbed to uncountable numbers. A Jacksonville State University professor also was among the first to be arrested on meth charges locally. Today, Smith says his officers could bust one meth lab a day, if they had the manpower and resources. Profile of a user Stereotypically, meth users are poor, white, rural residents. They are folks who failed high school chemistry, if they graduated at all. Meth is often called the “poor man’s crack.” But, just as with any drug, every segment of society has users – doctors, lawyers, educators. No one, no class or race of people is exempt. Why people start using meth is unknown, but the overwhelming evidence points to the drug’s side effects – weight loss, staying up late. In a short time, those side effects are joined by others: paranoia, psychosis and brain damage that can be permanent. Primarily, the drug hits rural areas. “This drug, for whatever reason, has moved to the rural areas,” Amerson said. In sparsely populated areas people are less likely to smell the byproducts of meth, which compares to a rotten egg or dirty baby diaper. The effect, Amerson said, is that thefts and violence are on the rise in areas that historically have been peaceful communities. Jacksonville police Chief Tommy Thompson said he has seen the increase in crime and the problems meth has caused. People shoplift the meth ingredients ephedrine and Sudafed. Or they buy five boxes of the medicine. And then return to buy five more. Still, Smith said, they find meth labs in hotels, motels, woods and fully functioning vehicles. In some parts of North Alabama, where the drug’s teeth sink the deepest, assisted living facilities have been sites. For the officers who used to think crack was bad, it meant they hadn’t seen anything yet, Amerson said. Meth, locally made, locally used, is worse for its effect on the community. “If these folks would use their ingenuity – creativity – in a positive way, there’s no telling what they would accomplish, but unfortunately they’re using it against us,” said Howell, who prosecutes most of the drugs cases in the area. An elusive solution No one seems to know what the answer is to stopping the methamphetamine epidemic. Howell faced that reality when he attended a meth conference in Tennessee this summer. “For those of you who came here thinking we had all the answers, we don’t,” Howell recalls organizers telling the crowd. Task force commander Smith, who works every day to enforce the laws against illegal drug use, offered a similar conclusion: “I don’t know what the answer is.” Those familiar with the judicial system say the solution will lie in enforcement, education and rehabilitation. Residents must stand and stare the red devil lies in the face, they say. “We’re not going to enforce our way out of this,” said Gregory Borland, assistant special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Agency for Alabama. “It’s going to take a collaborative, respectful effort between enforcement, education and rehabilitation groups, he said. They also concur that the problem is going to get worse before it gets better. According to Goldberg in California, the message has to be sent: “This is a bad drug that we should all stay away from. Our culture is not going to tolerate it.” A church in northern Calhoun County is working to change lives and its community. In Piedmont, where police say they know of about 25 meth dealers and believe hundreds of residents use meth, The Church of the Rock has established a support group for drug users and their families. They’re determined to make a difference and slow the epidemic. Maj. Jim Keathley, commander of the criminal investigation bureau of the Missouri Highway Patrol, said he believes Alabama may be six years behind his state, where as of Sept. 25, 2003, authorities busted 2,016 labs. The number includes active labs, chemical seizures and dumpsites. In Alabama, authorities seized fewer than 500 labs in northern Alabama in 2002, according to the U.S. Attorney’s meth survey. Missouri officials took down 2,743 sites that year, Keathley said. Officials’ real fear is that everyone thought crack was as bad as a drug could get. Then came meth. Who knows what is next?

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