Pubdate: Wed, 10 Jul 2002
Source: Gadsden Times, The (AL)
Copyright: 2002 The Gadsden Times
Contact:  http://www.gadsdentimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1203
Author: Cindy West

CRYSTAL METH KEEPS DRUG UNIT AGENTS BUSY

If you ask some local law enforcement officers to name the drug that causes 
them the most work, they will likely ask you where you've been hiding for 
the last few years. Crystal methamphetamine makes headlines in Marshall, 
DeKalb and Cherokee counties, while improperly used prescription drugs are 
the biggest problem in Etowah County, drug unit agents say. "Our most 
common abused drugs will always be pills, but those cases are harder to 
work," Etowah County Drug/Major Crime Task Force Commander Randall Johnson 
said. "If you sell your prescription drug, we have to actually make a buy 
from you; we can't just catch them on you. "What we used to see is marijuana.

Last quarter it was methamphetamine. We're seeing a lot more and more 
brought in." Crystal methamphetamine is easily made from products that are 
readily available, and the drug produces a longer-lasting high than 
cocaine. Cocaine is quickly removed and almost completely metabolized in 
the body, but methamphetamine acts longer and a larger percentage of the 
drug remains unchanged in the body, according to the National Institute on 
Drug Abuse Web site. "This results in methamphetamine being present in the 
brain longer, which ultimately leads to prolonged stimulant effects," 
according to the Web site. The initial rush and the high are thought to 
come from great amounts of the neurotransmitter dopamine being released 
into areas of the brain that produce feelings of pleasure. Crystal meth has 
been one of the top two drugs in Marshall County for the last five to seven 
years, but in the last three years it has reached what Marshall County Drug 
Enforcement Unit Director Rob Savage called epidemic levels, pushing crack 
and other cocaine derivatives to the background. Savage said crystal meth 
accounts for 82 percent of that agency's total case load. "Last year we did 
21 meth labs. We're at 16 right now," Savage said near the end of June. 
Crystal meth labs are dangerous because of the toxic byproducts they 
produce that are not properly disposed of. They endanger people living 
nearby because of potential explosions and harmful vapors.

Most of the crystal meth in Marshall County doesn't come from small, local 
labs, though. "The labs produce a small amount of this drug," Savage said. 
"Probably one to four ounces is a major cook. Large amounts come from a 
distribution network based in Mexico and central California. We're seeing 
three- and five-pound shipments, and those are part of larger shipments, 
coming from that network." In Mexico, the chemicals needed to make crystal 
meth are not regulated and can be purchased in bulk. Making the drug is 
illegal there, but the availability of the chemicals makes it tempting, 
Savage said. "Every large trafficking case we've worked this year has a 
connection to the Hispanic distribution networks that operate in north 
Alabama," Savage said. "We're not trying to point the finger (at one ethnic 
group), but the reality is that's what we've seen to this point.

The investigations have clearly defined a Hispanic connection to the larger 
distribution network." That distribution network doesn't seem to find any 
shortage of customers. "I think it's very addictive," DeKalb County Drug 
Task Force Director Darrell Collins said. "We run 65 to 70 percent meth cases.

We see very little marijuana.

All we've seen is methamphetamine the last two years." Collins said his 
agents had found two crystal meth labs that week in June and two the 
previous week. "We went on one this morning where the manufacturing process 
caught on fire," he said. "A mobile home caught on fire and someone was 
injured with third-degree burns on his arms. We did one meth lab in a 
government housing project." DeKalb County law enforcement officers found 
their first meth lab in 1986, and then went from 1986 until 1998 without 
seeing another. "Since 1998 we've had a boom," Collins said. The DeKalb 
County Drug Task Force made 199 methamphetamine possession and trafficking 
cases between Feb. 14, 2001, and Feb. 14, 2002. During that same period it 
raided 24 meth labs. Officers made 16 arrests for possession of precursor 
chemicals, the chemicals needed to make crystal meth, between February and 
September 2001. After September 2001, when the law establishing the charge 
of manufacturing controlled substances went into effect, officers arrested 
23 people on that charge. During that same period they made 142 marijuana 
cases, eight cocaine and crack cases and 26 prescription drug arrests, 
Collins said. In the course of those arrests, officers seized eight 
vehicles and 66 weapons, Collins said. Joe Hester, director of the Cherokee 
County Drug Task Force, said the unit probably will work 500 drug cases 
this year. Methamphetamine is the biggest problem, but drug agents have 
enlisted the help of the business community to catch the drug makers. "Our 
local merchants will call in if they see somebody suspicious buying 
chemicals," Hester said. "We made four arrests (one weekend) from those 
tips." Although meth is the biggest problem, marijuana hasn't been 
completely uprooted.

Cherokee County is usually first in the state in the number of marijuana 
plants found and destroyed. "We get over 10,400 plants per year in the 
eradication program," Hester said.
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