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.