091405 Wed Gaz M1-M14 Meth

A special reprint of the KALAMAZOO GAZETTE September 2005 The menace of METHFrom June 5 to June 12, the Kalamazoo Gazette reported on the growth in the manufacture and use of the addictive stimulant methamphetamine in southwestern Michigan and the ways it hurts our land, people and pocketbooks. The series drew attention to the thorny issues our communities face in battling the drug, and many readers asked for this reprint of the information to help educate more people here. MARK BUGNASKI / GAZETTE An officer from the Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team’s meth unit removes chemicals believed to be methamphetamine from a room at the Red Roof Inn on Cork Street on May 26. Last year, Kalamazoo, Allegan, St. Joseph and Van Buren counties were the top four counties in the state in the number of meth-lab busts. No one is safe from ‘a 21st-century plague’ By Rosemary Parker [email protected] 388-2734 ethamphetamine addicts live in a world of meth had spilled and created a toxic gas. gerously under the drug’s influence; or that you will en- madness. ● May 31, 2005, Richland: Thieves at a farm leave open a counter litter laced with chemicals poisonous enough to Increasingly,it’s a world the rest of us are valve on a tank of the fertilizer anhydrous ammonia, allow- make you ill from a single whiff. forced to share. ing a release of toxic gas. As of Saturday night, 36 cows had “It’s so scary because you can unknowingly,unwillingly, M Witness the bizarre exploits recorded week died, 28 more were likely to be put down and 30 to 40 were become a victim, by living next door to a meth lab, or rent- after week and year after year in southwestern Michigan: blinded. The chemical is used to help make meth. ing a motel room while you are on vacation with your fam- ● November 2001, Allegan County: Officials checking an The list is long and growing and helps illustrate the rising ily,”said Nancy Bennett, manager of the law enforcement apartment after a child-abuse complaint find a 2-year-old menace of methamphetamine in this part of Michigan. section of the Michigan Office of Drug Control Policy and bruised and battered. Cigarette burns dot the baby’s skin, Consider: If you live in Kalamazoo, Van Buren, Allegan or coordinator of the state’s methamphetamine task force. court records show. Toxic chemicals are everywhere. The St. Joseph counties, you are at the heart of meth use and “The sheer danger of it, to everybody,the entire commu- child’s mother and her boyfriend are arrested, suspected of manufacture in the state. These four counties are home to 4.9 nity” sets meth apart from other street drugs. running a meth lab. percent of the state’s population, yet 49 percent of the state’s ● August, 2002, Lawton: Two people are found murdered in meth arrests took place here last year. Cheap and easy to make a house that has been intentionally set on fire. A suspect in And whether you live in a remote rural area, a crowded The abuse of meth, a powerful stimulant, began on the the homicides later says the two were killed for money for apartment complex or are merely traveling through, the nation’s West Coast 20 years ago; the scourge spread meth. risk is rising that you will come into contact with a meth through the Midwest and hit southwestern Michigan in ● March 4, 2005, Sturgis: A city police officer is hospital- user or the toxic substances used to make it; or that you the mid-1990s. ized after he touches a plastic bag full of what appears to will have something stolen by a meth addict; or that you be ordinary household trash. Chemicals used to make will drive on the same roadway with someone who is dan- Please see NO ONE IS SAFE, Page 2 PART I PART II PART III PART IV PART V PART VI PART VII PART VIII Pages 1 & 2 Page 3 Page 4 Pages 5 & 6 Pages 7 & 8 Pages 9 & 10 Page 11 Pages 12 & 13 ? An overview of the Cold medicines A common and Children of meth Toxic chemicals Breaking the cycle Local, state and A look at what the growing danger of such as Sudafed highly caustic users often used in meth labs of addiction is federal agencies future may hold and methamphetamine carry the active fertilizer pits become trapped can poison homes extremely tough, with limited how other states in southwestern ingredient meth farmers against in a cycle of abuse, and property. users say. resources battle a are combating Michigan. users want. meth addicts. neglect and rising tide the problem. addiction. of meth use. This reprint was made possible with support from 2 ❖ September 2005 THE MENACE OF METH PART I Kalamazoo Gazette Why here? Meth exploded in southwestern Michigan five years ago, and Kalamazoo, Allegan, St. Joseph and Van Buren last year were the top counties in Michigan for meth-lab busts. Why? Location, location, location ■ National maps tracking meth-lab busts over the years show it spreading from Missouri into Illinois and Indiana and across the bor- der into southwestern Michigan. Rural appeal ■ Southwestern Michi- gan’s farming communities offer an attrac- tive setting for meth users: lots of anhydrous ammonia that is easy to get to. Farmers use it as fertilizer, and meth users steal it from farm tanks to process the drug. Meth also re- sults in a distinct odor, which is less likely to be detected in isolated areas. MARK BUGNASKI / GAZETTE Supply and Beef cattle lie dead or sickened by anhydrous ammonia fumes that seeped into a barn at Stafford Farms in Richland last week after thieves left open a valve on a tank next to the barn. demand Anhydrous ammonia is used to make meth, and the tanks at Stafford Farms have been repeatedly robbed by drug users. Thirty-six of the animals died or were destroyed, and 28 more may ■ Meth is not as at- have to be killed. tractive in big cities where drugs such as Continued from Page 1 motel rooms, cars and pickup trucks. In Allegan County alone, “we have ment Team had already disrupted 55 heroin, ecstasy and For young people experimenting with had three officer-involved shootings in meth labs, one more than they had in all drugs, for parents working double shifts, cocaine tend to be the last three years, all meth-driven,” Al- of 2004. for a subculture of people living on the legan Police Chief Rick Hoyer said. more popular and Twelve out of 144 inmates in the St. No one is safe fringes of society,the attraction can be “Prior to that,” he said, “there were Joseph County Jail now are there on more socially powerful. none in my 25 years” as a police officer. acceptable. meth-related charges. including theft, “This drug affects everyone from the Chemical spills, thefts, assaults, auto child abuse, assault and the sale or man- from ‘a 21st- dirtbags to the workaholics,” said Mike wrecks and fires all are part of the meth ufacture of the drug. Maybe not Larsen, program coordinator at the Alle- epidemic. In Allegan County,35 percent of all gan County Sheriff ’s Office. just here A human dead-end felonies are meth-related, Prosecutor ■ Area police agen- century plague’ Fred Anderson reports. Spreading poison Meth can be smoked, snorted, injected cies have increased Van Buren County has seen meth-lab What once was primarily a rural phe- or eaten. The initial euphoria is beyond enforcement and re- As recently as 2000, the menu for arrests rise from 37 in 2003 to 60 in 2004; nomenon now is becoming an urban compare, users say.But users also say the porting of meth ar- meth was still unfamiliar to some po- through June 1 there had already been 48. headache, authorities are learning. That crash of paranoia and despair that soon rests. “We saw this lice. Because meth’s collateral damage is trend is especially troubling for Kalama- follows outweighs any high they once en- problem and we’re “It was only five years ago, I remem- so serious, and resources to fight it are zoo’s dense urban population because joyed, and as addiction sets in the drug be- targeting it. It’s prob- ber being on a traffic stop in Decatur and scarce, investigation of other crimes meth, more than any other drug, carries comes all-consuming. ably going on in other the guy had a whole back seat full of may be taking a back seat. the most potential for harm to innocent Scientists say meth destroys pleasure places at the same Sudafed boxes,” said Detective Daniel “The numbers (of law enforcement posi- nonusers. centers in the brain, and is as addictive as level or worse than Perkins of the Van Buren County Sher- tions) are down and the calls are up,” said A typical batch of homemade meth heroin or cocaine. us, but if those areas iff's Department narcotics unit. “We were Dan Furniss, manager of Licensing Ser- starts with more than 1,000 little red Police agree meth is among the most don’t target it, they’re trying to figure out what was going on; vices at the Michigan Commission on Law cold tablets — such as Sudafed — addictive of all drugs, grabbing many not going to see the the guy told us that he was addicted to Enforcement Standards. In 2001, there painstakingly popped one by one from victims on their first try; studies they cold medicine and we believed him.” were 23,150 law enforcement positions same numbers,” blister packs, then ground into powder.

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