Pubdate: Wed, 05 Oct 2005
Source: Western Courier (IL Edu)
Copyright: 2005 Western Courier
Contact: http://www.westerncourier.com/main.cfm?include=submit
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3953
Website: http://www.westerncourier.com/
Author: Frankye Robinson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH IN THE MIDWEST

Thera Bullock began using meth at 19 years old; she started using it 
because her husband did.

"The first time I tried it I was hooked," Bullock said. "I kind of felt 
like if I couldn't beat him, join him. My attitude was also like, I'm going 
to show him that he can walk away, that he don't have to do this."

By the time Bullock was 23, her meth use had ruined her life. She was 
homeless and two of her three children were taken away by the state. 
Finally, she and her husband were arrested while driving with a 
near-complete meth lab in the truck.

"All we needed was the anhydrous ammonia," she said.

The Midwest is the center of a methamphetamine epidemic. Vickie Liebarker, 
Bridgeway drug counselor, has been rehabilitating drug addicts around the 
country for years. She said meth use is more prevalent here than any place 
else she has worked.

"When I was in Virginia, we didn't have meth users in the criminal justice 
system like we do here. On the East Coast, it hasn't really hit yet," 
Liebarker said.

Organized gangs in Mexico and the West Coast supply most of the nation's 
methamphetamine. However, local manufacturers produce an increasing amount 
of the drug in the Midwest.

Between 1999 and 2004 the number of meth lab incidents decreased 
nationwide, but that figure increased in the Midwest. There were more than 
900 incidents in Illinois alone.

West-Central Illinois Drug Task Force Co-Director Ken Kedzier said most 
people working the supply side of the meth trade are like Bullock: users 
themselves.

Kedzier said meth manufacturing peaked in this region in 2001.

"Back then, we were responding to a lab, probably, every other day," 
Kedzier said.

A joint effort between local law enforcement, the DEA and the task force 
broke up an organized ring of meth manufacturers in 2002.

"It's been our feeling that really was the thrust of the problem," Kedzier 
said.

In 2001, the task force shut down more than 60 labs. This year, less than 20.

Meth labs have not disappeared from the region. Kedzier said theft of 
anhydrous ammonia from farmers, a key ingredient in meth production, 
continues to be a problem. However, the task force is fighting the war 
against meth on a new front.

Kedzier said most of the meth arrests these days are of people from Iowa 
who come to Illinois to get pseudoephedrine, a primary ingredient in 
methamphetamine and common cold medicines. Illinois Attorney General Lisa 
Madigan recently said the ease with which pseudoephedrine is obtained in 
Illinois puts the state in danger of becoming a meth shopping mall.

Kedzier echoes her concerns. He said stricter guidelines for purchasing 
pseudoephedrine would help law enforcement crack down on meth production. 
Illinois state law currently requires stores to put medicines containing 
pseudoephedrine behind a counter. The law also limits the number of pills 
that can be purchased at one time.

Federal regulation of pseudoephedrine appears imminent. The United States 
Senate recently passed the Combat Meth Act. The legislation would make 
pseudoephedrine a Schedule Five drug. Though the measure cleared the senate 
with 99 votes, it is not without controversy.

Rick Crossett, Ford Hopkins Drug Store pharmacist, does not welcome the 
proposed changes to the law.

If the Combat Meth Act becomes law, Crosset would have to monitor the 
number of pseudoephedrine pills each customer buys per month. He said the 
extra work is not necessary in his store.

"Most of the people who come in are regular customers, and I feel very 
comfortable selling pseudoephedrine to them," Crossett said.

Regardless of what happens with pseudoephedrine, one of the tools law 
enforcement has to fight the meth epidemic is testimonials from former 
users, people like Bullock. The night of her arrest marked a new chapter in 
her life. Her arresting officer convinced her to participate in an 
interview that could be presented to schools.

"I had been up for five days, and I had track marks all up and down my arms 
when I made this tape ... I didn't know then that that was the end, but I 
haven't used since," Bullock said.

She now talks in schools, warning kids about the dangers of meth.

"I believe God allowed me to go through that so I could help others."
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