Police, landlords confront issues of meth abuse

Meth abuse

increasing faster than any other addiction

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

MORTON -- Methamphetamine use and the problems it causes is creeping closer and closer to your neighborhood.

Two Lower Sioux Community police officers and a landlord with property in Olivia and Redwood Falls, relayed meth-related issues Thursday at a public seminar at Jackpot Junction Hotel and Casino.

Others attending the event included a Danube minister and a Lower Sioux Social Services worker. The event was hosted by Deb Durkin of the Minnesota Department of Health.

The landlord said she had a hard time dealing with tenants that made meth because she didn't know how to handle it.

"I didn't know what to do," the woman said. "Neighbors complained but I couldn't kick them out just for that."

Durkin told her to carefully screen prospective tenants, checking with local police for prior criminal records, check property regularly, have tenants sign an agreement to allow for unannounced inspections, and keep a record of their vehicles and license plate numbers.

"It's worse than crack and aids," Durkin said. "Meth use is increasing faster than any other addiction. It won't go away on its own. You need to rattle some cages to get something done."

After an extensive meth presentation by Durkin, a tribal policeman said a 17-year-old girl was jailed earlier this week on meth-related charges. Officers said they are following up on leads that meth-addicted girls on the reservation as young as age 15, trade sex for meth.

Officers said tribal officials are working on programs including a safe house. They would like to expand programs including a young womens' leadership and friendship group and horse therapy for youths that are often without parental supervision.

More than a year ago, Washington, D.C.-based Assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Morley said meth has become a reservation epidemic.

"We're losing our children to this drug war," Morley said. "We need to make drugs our war...and take our children back."

Meth is a powerful, man-made stimulant drug with prolonged effects on the brain and central nervous system. Very addictive, meth withdrawal is more intense and longer-lasting than cocaine or amphetamines. Recovery can be complicated by physical and mental illness, including prolonged depression.

Meth is made from toxic chemicals like solvents, corrosives (like the farm fertilizer anhydrous ammonia), metals and salts.

Chemicals used to make it include isopropyl or rubbing alcohol, brake, gun and drain cleaner, ether, matches and road flares, lithium batteries, cold tablets and kitty litter.

Common equipment used in meth making include Pyrex dishes, jugs and bottles, paper towels and coffee filters, thermometers, cheesecloth, rubber tubing and gloves, aluminum foil, propane cylinders, hot plates, and ice chests.

Fires are common at meth labs. For every pound of meth produced, about six pounds of toxic waste remains to contaminate the environment.

It is sold in the form of pills, powder or chunks. Meth can be swallowed, inhaled (snorted), smoked or injected. It can appear as a crystalline powder that easily dissolves in water or alcohol. It may range in color from white to brown, pink to red.

Common street names include "speed," "meth," and "chalk." It's smoked forms maybe referred to as "ice," "crystal," "crank," and "glass." Crystal meth resembles rock candy, ice chunks or crystal.

Earlier believed to be used more heavily by blue-collar workers, meth use is becoming more and more prevalent for white-collar people.

Up to a third of Minnesota meth is made in clandestine labs in homes, vehicles, and motels. Minnesota-made meth is considered much more pure, potent and toxic than meth made in California, which is often shipped here.

Officers said the chance of meth being made at Jackpot Junction is low because it has more than 500 surveillance cameras.

Meth traffickers typically send it through the U.S. mail, via Federal Express, and by courier.

Immediate meth affects may include increased attention, activity, euphoria and rush, respiratory rate, convulsions and a dangerously high body temperature.

Long-term effects may include anxiety, anxiousness, severe weight loss, brain and central nervous system changes, damage to the heart and other organs, tremors and other uncontrolled motor activity, hallucinations, homicidal and suicidal thinking, violent and/or paranoid behavior and psychosis.

Withdrawal symptoms include depression, anxiety, fatigue, paranoia, aggression and intense drug craving.

According to a White Paper, "No Place to Hide: Substance Abuse in Mid-Size Cities and Rural America," by the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), 2000, rural America 8th graders are 104% more likely than city kids to use amphetamines, more likely to use cocaine by 50%, crack 83%, pot 34%, get drunk 70%, drink regularly 29%, twice as likely to smoke cigarettes and five times as likely to use smokeless tobacco.

Earlier in the day, Durkin hosted a program geared for school staff, social and court employees, counselors, and therapists among others.

The public is invited to a meth training seminar to be held at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 17 at the Springfield Community Center. New Ulm Police Department investigator Jeff Hohensee, who is also a member of the Brown County Drug Task Force, will conduct the program.

For more information, visit counterdrug@mn.ngb.army.mil.

(Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).