Pubdate: Wed, 24 Sep 2003
Source: Mitchell News-Journal (NC)
Copyright: 2003 Mitchell News-Journal
Contact: http://www.mitchellnews.com/letters.htm
Website: http://www.mitchellnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1777
Author: John Silver
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METHAMPHETAMINE USE RISES IN THE AREA

Mitchell County Sheriff Ken Fox holds a sheet of paper with about 100 names 
written under the heading "Felonies." He goes down the list and circles 
close to 50 names.

"These were all meth arrests from the past two years," he says. Fox says 
methamphetamines, along with prescription drug abuse, have become a growing 
problem in Mitchell County and other rural areas in North Carolina. Watauga 
County, which made two arrests for meth last year, has made about 30 
arrests this year.

Mitchell County detective Shannon Smith attributes the increasing arrests 
to the accessibility of cheap materials and the convenience of recipes 
surfacing on the Internet.

"More and more people are trying to make it themselves," Smith said. "The 
labs we're uncovering in Western North Carolina, they're usually in the 
kitchens of a regular home. It's really easy for them to download the 
recipes online."

Over 200 household materials can be used to to manufacture 
methamphetamines. Some of the more common substances include propane, camp 
stove fuel, alcohol, paint thinner, ammonia and drain cleaner. Lithium, 
another common substance, is often gathered by stripping certain varieties 
of batteries.

Smith said there are two popular ways to make the drug in the home setting. 
The first and most popular form is the anhydrous ammonia, or "Nazi," 
method. Smith said the substance could be made in just a few hours this way.

The second form is called the red phospherous method, which gathers the 
material by scraping striking pads from match books and then combining the 
substance with iodine to make hydriotic acid, a chemical frequently used in 
manufacturing methamphetamines. The red phosphorous method is more time 
consuming but yields greater quantities than the "Nazi method," which 
usually produces ounce-size quantities. Aside from causing damage to the 
brain, lungs and liver, methamphetamine's more immediate danger is the 
actual process of manufacturing. A large number of clandestine labs have 
burned or exploded recently, indicating carelessness among some 
manfufacturers, Smith said.

"The lithium reacts violently with water, and if they're not careful," 
Smith said, "they can get hurt badly from fires related to manufacturing."

The National Drug Intelligence Center states that "young people are 
attracted to the drug because of its euphoric effects and because the drug 
can keep them awake for prolonged periods." Only six percent of people 
addicted to methamphetimines recover from the addiction. The growing 
methamphetamine problem has prompted some counties, including Mitchell, to 
organize joint federal drug task forces overseen by the DEA, which conducts 
and monitors extensive investigations. Fox said he wants to work with other 
law enforcement agencies, such as the State Bureau of Investigation, to 
combat the growing problem. "Our meth arrests have sky-rocketed," Fox said. 
"We're doing the best we can right now to deal with something that isn't 
just a Mitchell County problem."
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