MUTANT DRUG THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

San Jose -- The drug is the stuff of nightmares, reportedly driving an
Arizona father to hack off the head of his teenage son because he thought
the boy was a devil.

A Californian, who family members say is a loving son, stabbed
his76-year-old father repeatedly, thinking aliens had invaded his body.

A drug-crazed thief committed point-blank shotgun murders of two teenage
companions he mistaken thought had cheated him, according to Alameda county
authorities in California. He denies the killing but said: "I can tell you
that that drug makes me the evilest person in the world."

The drug is methamphetamine, but in an alarming new form that is twice as
potent and, experts say, more likely to provoke such violence. Because it
is cheaper and easier to make than in the past, today's methamphetamine is
flooding California and spreading across the United States.

Stifled in the 1980s by laws regulating the most popular precursor
chemicals, methamphetamine "cooks" created a new formula in the early '90s,
which now makes up 90 per cent of the "crank" confiscated by state agents,
who, last year, hauled in almost 9000 kilograms -- a 10-fold increase from
1991 -- and closed one clandestine laboratory every 19 hours. The
easy-to-follow recipe is on the Internet and in books and requires very
little equipment, which can be stored anywhere: motel rooms, bathrooms,
storage lockers or even a backpack.

Ingredients and supplies to make a batch of home-made methamphetamine can
be found at variety stores for about US$200 (NZ$285). Highly toxic and
volatile, the chemicals can also be bought in larger quantities, legally,
from chemical companies.

"There's no doubt we have an epidemic of this new meth," said Alex Stalcup,
who runs a drug rehabilitation centre in Contra Costa county in California.
"And where meth goes, violence follows." The new methamphetamine produces
extreme euphoria, increased alertness and a sense of boundless energy.
Users call it a phenomenal high, lasting hours, days, even weeks. But
there's a dark side. High dosage or chronic use can lead to nervousness and
irritability. It's not uncommon for users to hear voices, hallucinate and
become paranoid, Dr Stalcup says.