Pubdate: Fri, 26 Sep 2003
Source: Washington Blade (DC)
Copyright: 2003 The Washington Blade Inc.
Contact:  http://www.washblade.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1754
Author: Joe Crea
Note: Part three of a weekly series
Part: One is at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n000/a315.html
Part: Two is at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n000/a316.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH DEALER DETAILS D.C. DRUG SCENE

$500,000 Annual Pay for Local Drug 'Marketer' Who Has Few Regrets

He used to call himself a "promoter" or "event planner," never a
dealer of crystal methamphetamine. But Corbin, a 31-year-old Virginia
resident, said he sold large amounts of crystal on and off for the
past 10 years and claims to have been instrumental in marketing and
introducing the drug to the Washington, D.C. gay club scene.

"We tried to put a new face on crystal, make it hip, cool," said
Corbin, who spoke on condition that his real name not be used.
"Crystal was something that only dirty, deviant people did. Gay men
did it on a whim during the Black Party, to say, 'be dark.' We
re-marketed it, gave it a new face."

Corbin said he adopted the well-established practice of using
"runners" to find club-goers interested in buying the drug, and who
then closed the sale with or without the dealer's actual
involvement.

"We got very urbane-looking runners into the clubs wearing Diesel
jeans," said Corbin, "and kicked out the runners who looked like they
came out of a ditch."

Corbin spoke about his drug dealing in business terms and compared the
collapse of his enterprise to that of the fall of Rome. He even
fashioned himself as the "Oliver Twist" character Fagin, the criminal
who acts as an entertainer. He said he started selling crystal meth --
also known as "tina" or "T" or "speed" -- after well-heeled
acquaintances asked repeatedly about where they could purchase the
drug.

"My wealthy friends wanted a higher grade of a product that you can
only get from the distribution level, so you buy wholesale," Corbin
said. "But after a while, you are doing too many favors. Suddenly,
everyone is calling you asking where they can get whatever for Friday
night. I mean, after a while, you would be pretty ridiculous not to
say, 'I want to get money for this.'"

D.C. Meth Arrives Via West Coast

The market for crystal in Washington, D.C., is limited -- relegated
primarily to the gay club scene -- and most of the methamphetamine in
D.C. comes from sources in California, via overnight or regular mail
delivery services, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency.

The DEA said that crystal prices vary from region to region in the
United States. Distribution prices range from $3,500 per pound in
parts of California and Texas to $21,000 per pound in southeastern and
northeastern regions. The retail price ranges from $400 to $3,000 per
ounce.

The DEA also noted that because of international chemical control
efforts, which have reduced the amount of available chemicals needed
to produce high-grade crystal, the purity standards of available
crystal have decreased dramatically.

DEA statistics show that the purity of seized methamphetamine dropped
from 71.9 percent in 1994 to 30.7 percent in 1999. The average purity
of crystal seized in 2000 rose slightly to 35.3 percent and 40.1 in
2001.

Just Business?

Corbin described the structure and operation of the D.C. drug world,
and in particular his now defunct business, as that of a typical
legitimate business operation. The head of distribution, or CEO as
Corbin called him, is the point man for the labs. The head of
distribution handles "anything logistical" and buys directly from the
labs and in some cases may own the lab.

Corbin described himself as the marketer for his "company." He said
that most drug dealers in D.C. transitioned from the cocaine business
to the world of crystal. He added that cocaine is a far more organized
business and said he was eager to take the principles from that
venture and apply them to crystal dealings. But he quickly learned
that most dealers in the crystal business are also abusers, making it
virtually impossible to establish an efficient, clandestine
organization.

"Coke's typical high gives [the user] a god complex," Corbin said.
"The last thing you would never do is allow your [cocaine] business to
fail. You will let everything else get destroyed -- families, friends
- -- before your business fails. Those coke people are phenomenal
business people."

In addition to Corbin and his "CEO," he said his business employed a
senior sales manager who made sure that the drug runners were taken
care of and got what they wanted. There were roughly 8-10 runners in
his business and on a "good day" 15 runners, Corbin said.

Corbin, an addict himself, justified his role by insisting that he was
teaching others how to use responsibly and took pride in noting that
none of his clients ever openly injected -- also known as "slamming"
- -- or smoked crystal.

"I thought that smoking and slamming took away from the drug's
glamour," Corbin said. "It really does."

Corbin said that many users and dealers often don't want to associate
themselves with the "dirty" aspects of the business. Corbin said his
drug dealing operation did not include physical violence. In other
drug dealing communities, it's common to "beat the hell out of the
distributor if he fucks up," Corbin said.

He added that a number of lesbians are in the business and are crystal
users themselves.

"Lesbians are phenomenal addicts," Corbin said. "They don't fuck up.
They are shrewd businesswomen."

Corbin said that his network was broken up last year after his
business partner's addiction became so severe he became convinced that
Corbin was trying to put him out of business. He said that he was
making $500,000 a year when working full-time. When he worked
part-time, which he said he did frequently, the take was $100,000 annually.

He also wanted to get out of the business for his boyfriend, whom he
referred to at the time as his "Mafia princess," a "possession" that
made him vulnerable to enemies.

Corbin said he now works as a consultant for a friend who sells
drugs.

DEA Cracks Down

In April, the DEA announced that more than 65 people were arrested, in
collaboration with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police during an
international methamphetamine investigation. The arrests occurred in
more than 10 cities in the United States and Canada after an 18-month
investigation, dubbed "Operation Northern Star" that targeted the
illegal importation of pseudoephedrine, an essential chemical used in
meth production.

The agents had targeted six executives from three Canadian chemical
companies. All arrested had sold bulk quantities of pseudoephedrine to
meth manufacturers in the United States.

The DEA said that, according to court documents and internal
statistics, trafficking pseudoephedrine is a "lucrative business." A
typical box contains 80,000 60 mg tablets and can be purchased in
Canada for approximately $900. They noted that after the drug went to
two or three brokers, the box would be sold to manufacturers in
California for $18,000 to $20,000.

Last month, Associated Press reported that federal and local law
enforcement officials in a Los Angeles raid recovered more than 70
pounds of crystal with an estimated street value of $3 million.

Meth Labs More Common in West

Drug experts assert that meth labs are not a major problem in the D.C.
area. Rather, the labs are common in the West, Southwest and Midwest.
Drug officials say that the Midwest is having a particularly hard time
dealing with the epidemic because regional law enforcement there never
had to deal with the heavily urban crack-cocaine epidemic in the 1980s.

Clandestine labs are problems, but the DEA said that the biggest
problem is the abundance of "mom and pop labs" found in private homes
and in some cases, the trunks of cars that move from town to town to
"cook up a batch of crystal and move on."

According to the DEA, these clandestine laboratories, concentrated in
the Western, Southwestern, and Midwestern United States, are often
discovered by fire and rescue units after the hazardous sites catch
fire or explode. They cite one such laboratory in New Mexico in 1997
that exploded, destroying a house trailer and killing the laboratory
operator.

The environmental and public health damage caused by crystal labs can
be considerable. The DEA said that careless operators often dump
acidic sludge on the ground, polluting local streams and lakes and
damaging sewage systems or septic tanks.

Michael Siever, director of the Stonewall Project, a harm
reduction-counseling program for gay and bisexual men in San
Francisco, said that even federal hazardous waste dollars are spent in
California to clean up former crystal meth labs. The process is so
toxic that officials wear Hazmat suits during clean up.

In addition to generating toxic runoff, many labs are protected by
booby traps and armed operators.

The DEA said that in 2001, approximately 8,000 clandestine crystal
labs were seized.

Because many of the ingredients used to make crystal are available in
ordinary stores, many businesses have collaborated with the DEA and
developed technology to monitor bulk purchases of some of the
ingredients.

Danette Thompson, a spokesperson for Wal-Mart Inc. said that a list of
ingredients used to make crystal are "flagged" in Wal-Mart's system
via a register prompt.

"If you were to purchase four boxes of Sudafed, that purchase would
kick up a prompt as soon as the fourth box was rung up," Thompson said
by way of example.

Thompson said that the policy was implemented in 1997 and is similar
to the policies of other stores that carry products used in the
manufacturing of crystal.

'I've Had Boys Offer to Do Any Sex Act With Me'

Corbin, who still uses crystal, said that as his life becomes "more
stable and grounded," his need for crystal has abated. But he admitted
that tina is still very much a part of his identity and laments his
once prominent notoriety and VIP status in the D.C. drug world.

He blames himself to some extent for selling drugs, especially to
18-year-olds, and added at times he would cut clients off if he felt
they were doing too much crystal.

"I would say sometimes to people, 'You've done too much, you must
detox,'" Corbin said. "And they would still continue to use. I would
say, 'Look, you are not going to die in my house. If you are going to
be stupid enough to kill yourself, do it on your own time.'"

Corbin described crystal abuse in D.C. as an "outrageous epidemic" and
noted that it is "sad."

"People will sell their soul for a fix. I've had boys offer to do any
sex act with me, many were willing to physically hurt people to prove
how loyal they were." But he scoffed at the notion of being addicted
to crystal saying, "All addiction is mind over matter."

"There are those out there who can do a gram a day without a problem,"
Corbin said. "I'm doing shit that makes you feel like you've walked
through the gates of heaven."

Corbin said his regrets are few, justifying his business as an effort
merely to provide pleasurable experiences for gay men.

"On one hand, certainly one would say that [gay men] complicated our
lives but just think of where we would be [without drugs] ... creating
an absence of pleasure. Sometimes it is important to walk on the edge.
I'm not comfortable with mediocrity. Can't exist in the norm. I've
learned to, but I'm not comfortable with it."

[sidebar]

Tina's Troubled past

1919 -- Drug first synthesized in Japan

1927 -- British chemist Gordon Alles discovered the stimulating
effects of meth, including increased alertness, fatigue alleviation
and euphoria.

1932 -- A U.S. pharmaceutical company bought the patent to the Alles
discovery. He then marketed the drug as a nasal decongestant, an
inhalant called Benzedrine, or "beanies." Users would take apart the
inhalers and suck out the speed.

1939-1945 -- Amphetamines were sanctioned by a number of governments
during World War II, including Nazi Germany, the United States and
Japan for their energizing and antidepressant properties. It is
estimated that millions of Japanese soldiers, defense workers and
civilians used amphetamines and that by the end of the war, at least
two percent of the adult Japanese population was dependent on the
drug. Post-war studies of American military prisoners revealed that a
notable number reported abusing amphetamine inhalers.

1959 -- The first use in the United States of intravenous injection of
the contents of a Benzedrine inhaler for non-medicinal purposes was
reported.

1971 -- The last non-prescription inhaler was removed from the U.S.
market pursuant to the passage of the Controlled Substances Act of
1970.

2003 -- In the United States, there have been three distinct
methamphetamine epidemics: one in the 1950s, a second in the late
1960s, and the current one that began in the mid-1990s. What makes the
current epidemic especially dangerous for gay users is the correlation
between meth use and HIV infection as gay men take increased risks on
speed that they would not ordinarily take. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake