Cindy West
The Gadsden Times

Crystal meth keeps drug unit agents busy

If you ask some local law enforcement officers to name the drug that causes them the most work, they will likely ask you where you've been hiding for the last few years.

Crystal methamphetamine makes headlines in Marshall, DeKalb and Cherokee counties, while improperly used prescription drugs are the biggest problem in Etowah County, drug unit agents say.
"Our most common abused drugs will always be pills, but those cases are harder to work," Etowah County Drug/Major Crime Task Force Commander Randall Johnson said.

"If you sell your prescription drug, we have to actually make a buy from you; we can't just catch them on you.

"What we used to see is marijuana. Last quarter it was methamphetamine. We're seeing a lot more and more brought in."

Crystal methamphetamine is easily made from products that are readily available, and the drug produces a longer-lasting high than cocaine.
Cocaine is quickly removed and almost completely metabolized in the body, but methamphetamine acts longer and a larger percentage of the drug remains unchanged in the body, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse Web site.

"This results in methamphetamine being present in the brain longer, which ultimately leads to prolonged stimulant effects," according to the Web site.

The initial rush and the high are thought to come from great amounts of the neurotransmitter dopamine being released into areas of the brain that produce feelings of pleasure.

Crystal meth has been one of the top two drugs in Marshall County for the last five to seven years, but in the last three years it has reached what Marshall County Drug Enforcement Unit Director Rob Savage called epidemic levels, pushing crack and other cocaine derivatives to the background.

Savage said crystal meth accounts for 82 percent of that agency's total case load. "Last year we did 21 meth labs. We're at 16 right now," Savage said near the end of June.

Crystal meth labs are dangerous because of the toxic byproducts they produce that are not properly disposed of. They endanger people living nearby because of potential explosions and harmful vapors. Most of the crystal meth in Marshall County doesn't come from small, local labs, though.

"The labs produce a small amount of this drug," Savage said. "Probably one to four ounces is a major cook. Large amounts come from a distribution network based in Mexico and central California. We're seeing three- and five-pound shipments, and those are part of larger shipments, coming from that network."

In Mexico, the chemicals needed to make crystal meth are not regulated and can be purchased in bulk. Making the drug is illegal there, but the availability of the chemicals makes it tempting, Savage said.

"Every large trafficking case we've worked this year has a connection to the Hispanic distribution networks that operate in north Alabama," Savage said. "We're not trying to point the finger (at one ethnic group), but the reality is that's what we've seen to this point. The investigations have clearly defined a Hispanic connection to the larger distribution network."

That distribution network doesn't seem to find any shortage of customers.

"I think it's very addictive," DeKalb County Drug Task Force Director Darrell Collins said. "We run 65 to 70 percent meth cases. We see very little marijuana. All we've seen is methamphetamine the last two years."

Collins said his agents had found two crystal meth labs that week in June and two the previous week.
"We went on one this morning where the manufacturing process caught on fire," he said. "A mobile home caught on fire and someone was injured with third-degree burns on his arms. We did one meth lab in a government housing project."

DeKalb County law enforcement officers found their first meth lab in 1986, and then went from 1986 until 1998 without seeing another. "Since 1998 we've had a boom," Collins said.

The DeKalb County Drug Task Force made 199 methamphetamine possession and trafficking cases between Feb. 14, 2001, and Feb. 14, 2002. During that same period it raided 24 meth labs. Officers made 16 arrests for possession of precursor chemicals, the chemicals needed to make crystal meth, between February and September 2001. After September 2001, when the law establishing the charge of manufacturing controlled substances went into effect, officers arrested 23 people on that charge.

During that same period they made 142 marijuana cases, eight cocaine and crack cases and 26 prescription drug arrests, Collins said.
In the course of those arrests, officers seized eight vehicles and 66 weapons, Collins said.

Joe Hester, director of the Cherokee County Drug Task Force, said the unit probably will work 500 drug cases this year.

Methamphetamine is the biggest problem, but drug agents have enlisted the help of the business community to catch the drug makers.

"Our local merchants will call in if they see somebody suspicious buying chemicals," Hester said. "We made four arrests (one weekend) from those tips."

Although meth is the biggest problem, marijuana hasn't been completely uprooted. Cherokee County is usually first in the state in the number of marijuana plants found and destroyed. "We get over 10,400 plants per year in the eradication program," Hester said.