METH AND DESTRUCTION, PART II

Law enforcement officers nationwide are fighting a growing
methamphetamine epidemic that is not immune to any demographic, and
Walker County is no exception.

The attraction to meth by users is debatable, but Walker County
Sheriff's narcotics Detective Justin Smith says once a person takes
the first hit, there's no turning back.

"Once you do it, you're done - you're hooked," Smith said. "We see
high school kids who are users of meth. College kids are attracted to
it because they can stay up all night, get very focused."

Smith said meth can produce a high for more than 10 hours and even
several days in some cases, opposed to a four-or five-hour high from
crack cocaine.

"Meth is so addictive," he said. "It's more addictive than any other
narcotic I have dealt with."

Walker County Sheriff Clint McRae was a member of the former Central
East Texas Narcotics Task Force for more than 10 years before taking
his current post, and his stories dealing with meth users paint a
graphic picture.

"'How addictive is this stuff? Explain it to me in a way I might
understand.' I asked a user that one time, and he paused and looked
back at me and said, 'Sir, you know how you desire your next breath?
Multiply that by 100.'

"That really made me realize what this stuff can do. Some users lose
everything they own - their home, business, marriage. I've even know
them to walk away from their children."

Both Smith and McRae recognize there's a growing meth problem in
Walker County, but it's not only users. More and more discoveries of
labs and communities of meth culture are significant.

"The meth problem in this county is substantial," Smith said. "We're
starting to see more ice meth. It's becoming the prominent form,
possibly because it can be mass produced by more people."

"Ice" is a form of meth that is cooked into a crystal form, visually
similar to rock salt but smaller. The going rate for a little more
than an ounce is about $1,300.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration ranks Texas the top-yielding
state in the nation for methamphetamine seizures. In 2002,
approximately 288 pounds were seized. By 2004, that number jumped to
about 1,481 pounds, an amount that could garner more than $28 million
on the street.

"It all boils down to money," Smith said. "This is the least
expensive drug to produce, and has a good return on the street."

Texas, like many states, now requires pharmacists to keep products
containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine behind counters. These
components are used to produce meth and are relatively easy to obtain
in forms of over-the-counter cold medications such as Sudafed and Claratin-D.

Other factors make it easier to produce. Rural areas, like Walker
County, are often hubs for production because there are acres of land
in remote, wooded areas to hide labs. But labs have gone mobile now,
and production can be done in car trunks and storage buildings.

A process that just a few years ago took 36 to 48 hours and required
much stronger chemicals, now can be complete in five to eight hours
with less odor-causing material.

Smith said meth addicts are dangerous because of the level of
paranoia the drug use causes. Producers, who often dabble in their
own products, will go to great lengths to elude the law, often booby
trapping their laboratories with shotguns and buckets of acid.

"They don't sell meth on the street," he explained. "They are so
paranoid, they don't deal with just anyone. Dealing with people in
meth is one of the most dangerous aspects of narcotics, if not the
most. When we bust a lab, we don't want to hang out there, and we
don't want to have a shoot-out there, that's for sure. The chemicals
they deal with are highly volatile. Fumes from a meth lab could kill somebody."

Walker County Sheriff's Office and Central East Texas Narcotics Task
Force officers busted 125 meth labs in a two-year period in Walker
and surrounding counties, totaling between 250 to 300 arrests. Meth
possession or the presence of a meth lab, even without a final
product, will result in a felony charge.

"That arrest number is not including actual buys or delivery of
product," McRae said. "Those figures are arrests made from the lab
busts. Usually, there are a multitude of people involved."

Walker County law enforcement officers are committed to efforts to
educate people about meth use and to try to eradicate the problem,
but the struggle seems overwhelming at times.

"For the time, this is the most destructive, most dangerous drug we
are dealing with today," McRae said. "When we have dealt with heroin,
it was spotty, nothing of this magnitude.

"We've put in a lot of man hours and a lot of money to take care of
what we can. We are going to hammer away at this, so no one should
feel like they're safe. If they're involved in meth, their card will
be pulled one day. This drug is the root of so many evils, we'll find
them one way or another."

Smith added, "It's a national epidemic. If we don't get a handle on
it, it will keep snowballing. People don't recover from this too
well. There are fewer recovered meth addicts than any other."