Pubdate: Tue, 08 Nov 2005 Source: Elko Daily Free Press (NV) Copyright: 2005 Elko Daily Free Press Contact: http://www.elkodaily.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2326 Author: Marianne Kobak, Staff Writer Series: Part 1 METH MADNESS, PART 1 Drug Abuse Boosts Local Crime Rate Whether it's called crank, ice, crystal meth or one of its many other names, methamphetamine is a life-ruining drug that is gaining momentum not only nationally but here in Elko County. One of the easiest ways to see this drug's impact on our county is by reading the police blotter and other stories about crimes that occur in the community. This drug will be mentioned in many, if not most, of them. More than 12 million people age 12 and older - 5.3 percent of the U.S. population - reported that they had used methamphetamine at least once in their lifetime, according to a 2002 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' survey. No one knows how many of these people are here in Elko County but many of them have gone through the local court system and their numbers seem to be growing. Methamphetamine use and meth-related crimes have rapidly increased and may continue to increase, according to local law enforcement officers and district judges. In the last couple years, meth-related crimes prosecuted in the county ranged from murder to child abuse to burglary. Over the past few months almost every major crime committed in the county was related to methamphetamine use. But this trend is nothing new to our judges. More than 90 percent of local court cases are drug-related and the majority of these include meth, said Elko District Court judges Michael Memeo and Andrew Puccinelli. These include burglary, assault, thefts, domestic violence, child abuse and others. "It covers the whole spectrum," Memeo said. The number of drug charges also has increased and most involve meth. "It's unusual to see a drug case that doesn't have methamphetamine in it," Memeo said. Yet it isn't in just the criminal courts that the judges see meth users. "It seems to be through all the courts," Memeo said. "We'll have custody disputes where one party will show up high on meth or will show up for sentencing high." These kind of incidents make security's job more difficult, because meth users tend to act aggressive and paranoid. Puccinelli also said meth users can be more dangerous than other drug users. "I started practicing law in 1978," Puccinelli said. "I started as a criminal defense attorney and I represented a lot of people charged with drug offenses. When I first started out it was marijuana and then it became kind of marijuana and cocaine, a little bit of heroine, a little bit of LSD. I never really saw any methamphetamine cases until probably the mid-90s. "But I made the statement to some people that I represented - people who were addicted to heroine, addicted to cocaine, smoked a lot of marijuana and people who were even LSD folks: None of them ever really bothered me in terms of concern for my own personal safety as much as people who use methamphetamine." Looking for a new way of trying to combat methamphetamine use, Puccinelli has started a drug court. He said most of his cases dealt with meth, whether they were in his fledgling drug court or not. The drug court has been in operation for seven months and has about 20 participants. "We've had two failures but we're below the national average," Puccinelli said. "Most are in for meth." Drug court isn't just for adults; juveniles are seen by Memeo in his drug court. Unfortunately, Memeo said children get involved with meth at a young age. The youngest meth user Memeo has seen in his court was 11 years old. During 2004, 6.2 percent of high school seniors reported using methamphetamine within their lifetime, according to a federal study. According to the Northeastern Nevada Juvenile Detention Center, there were 491 juvenile criminal offenses reported from January to August of this year. There were 20 juveniles detained for possession of a controlled substance and 11 detained for possession of drug paraphernalia. Puccinelli said drug court really isn't a preventative measure against meth use but "it's an effective tool with dealing with people who are addicted." "We're making a difference one person at a time," Puccinelli said. "It's all we can do." Yet drug court doesn't deal with the majority of the meth-related crimes, because the system doesn't allow violent offenders or traffickers in the drug court. All of these criminal cases start with local law enforcement. Other than marijuana, federal drug seizures in 2004 took in more methamphetamine than any other illegal drug. In 2004, the feds seized 243.1 kilograms of marijuana and 51.5 kilograms of meth. Cocaine was the next highest at 26.6 kilograms. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, meth is the most frequently encountered drug in Nevada and Elko County is no exception. "It's overtaken cocaine," said Elko Combined Narcotics Unit Lt. Charles Powell. "It's so prevalent the majority of households in the county are affected by it." When asked why this particular drug is so prevalent, Elko County Undersheriff Bill Cunningham said because it's so addicting. "A lot of people the first time they use it they get hooked on it," he said. "There are cases where mothers have given up their kids to get their next high. You can take booking photos of them from a year ago and compare it to one now and they look like they've aged 10 years because of the use of the drug." Elko police Capt. Aaron Hughes also said the drug is taking hold in the community because methamphetamine has "the exact same effects as cocaine but with a longer high." The drug initially can be taken in a similar manner to cocaine, Hughes said. Users will snort it, smoke it or inject it. "Where they shoot up are the most sensitive places on your body sometimes, to keep it hidden," Hughes said. "In the past we had a real problem with cooking when we had 'peanut butter' meth," Hughes said. "Now we're seeing more pure crystal meth coming out of Mexico." Meth is mainly imported into the area by ground transportation from Mexico, according to the DEA. The meth imported into the state is produced primarily in "super labs," which produce 10 pounds or more in a 24-hour period, according to the DEA. The most readily available forms of meth range from 90 to 99 percent pure in Nevada. According to the DEA, there are still small labs in the state that produce about one ounce per cook, and they often contain a higher purity level that averages 90 percent. Powell said level of purity that used to be seen in Elko County was referred to as "crank" and ranged from 40 to 50 percent. Then it increased to 60 to 80 percent. Now, just like the rest of the state, local law enforcement is seeing more "ice," which is 80 to 100 percent pure. "In the last two years we've seen a 100 percent case increase," Powell said. "In this quarter, from July 1 to Sept. 31, we've done more meth seizures than any year previous to that. ... We have a drug problem all the way through. We have a drug problem in Jackpot, Wells, West Wendover and Elko." Elko County Undersheriff Bill Cunningham also said his deputies are spending more and more time on meth-related crimes. "The last few years it's definitely gotten a lot worse," Cunningham said. "You can see where the different crimes have gone up, especially the theft crimes. Domestic violence and child abuse cases have gone up because of meth use. I would say 85 percent of the drug crimes we deal with are meth." According to Elko County Sheriff's Office statistics, the average daily inmate population at the jail in 2005 was 98. That is up from 91 the previous year and 86 in 2003. Hughes also said most of the cases his officers deal with are related to meth. From Oct. 30, 2004, to Oct. 30, 2005, Elko police officers arrested people on 110 different drug possession and drug sales charges and at least 16 possessed meth. These numbers don't include the various drug-related crimes that occurred, nor does it include the arrests that weren't categorized under a specific drug. Meth use also leads to more dangerous situations for law enforcement. "In the last two years we've seen more weapons and more violent crimes stemming from meth," Powell said. "You're dealing with people who aren't really in their right mind," Cunningham said. "Who normally under different circumstances they probably wouldn't be doing the sort of things that they're doing. ... "What we can see from what we've done in the past few years with meth you can tell they get more involved with more serious crimes because once they get on meth for a while reality really doesn't kick in. The only thing that's really important to these people is their next fix." - --- The Elko Daily Free Press will continue to explore methamphetamine and its impact on the community in Tuesday's paper through conversations with two recovering addicts. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman