Pubdate: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 Source: Oklahoman, The (OK) Copyright: 2003 The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.oklahoman.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318 Author: Kelly Kurt METH TRAVELS SOCIAL LADDER IN OKLAHOMA They call it "crank," "go fast," "speed" -- fitting words for a drug that has ripped across Oklahoma like a spring twister, tearing up families, destroying lives. Former Gov. Frank Keating once called methamphetamine "a white trash drug." But in the past decade, meth has traveled the social ladder, mixed among the races, spanned ages and spread right in our midst. "It's everywhere," said Rob Wallace, district attorney for Le Flore and Latimer counties, "among everyone." Users inject it, snort it, smoke it or ingest it. And they make it -- in motels, on the beds of pickups, at home, down the road, next door. Between 1992 and 2002, the number of clandestine meth labs in Oklahoma went from zero to 1,254. The state ranked fourth nationwide last year for labs seized, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics reports. The Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services found that the state's overall use of methamphetamine in 1999 was 42 percent higher than the national average. Recent meth arrests have included a teacher, a police chief's son and a former district attorney. The Cherokee Nation is so concerned, it has vowed to lower meth use in its jurisdiction by 50 percent in five years through education, law enforcement and social services. The drug is sometimes brought into Oklahoma by Mexican gangs, the narcotics agency says. But gangs aren't what keep police and sheriff's deputies working through the night. The small-time meth makers are. They may be young or old, grandfathers or mothers with tiny babies. They cook meth for themselves or a few friends using items as common as cold medicine, rock salt, battery acid, road flares and drain cleaner. "It's more powerful than any drug on the street, and it gives them more pleasure," said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the narcotics bureau. "And this is a drug they can make on their kitchen counter in four hours." Nightly, thieves are stealing anhydrous ammonia from farmers to make meth. Children who live where meth is made routinely test positive for the drug. (Sidebar) Lab seizures The Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control reports the following number of clandestine methamphetamine lab seizures in Oklahoma over the past decade: 1992 -- 0 1993 -- 0 1994 -- 10 1995 -- 34 1996 -- 125 1997 -- 241 1998 -- 275 1999 -- 781 2000 -- 946 2001 -- 1,193 2002 -- 1,254 - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens