Drugs - Meth In America: Not In Our Town

Missouri? The heart of America? Leading in illegal methamphetamine labs? With more of them operating than in California? — Have we got the right chart here? Does it have the right label? Check again. Yes. It's the right data. Yes, it's true. — Disconcerting though it might seem, meth crystals are being manufactured in all but four states and the District of Columbia. Lithium from batteries, acetone from paint thinner, lye and ephedrine bought at the pharmacy (the ephedrine comes in cold medicines), and you're on your way to making "ice." It's best to find some sheltered, hidden area. Making meth is dangerous. Fires and explosions are quite common; producers often die of them. For every pound of stuff you make, you get 10 pounds of toxic residues best dumped someplace in secret. And the smell is horrendous. Those in a hurry can steal some anhydrous ammonia, used as fertilizer. The ammonia speeds up the drying of the drug, cutting 10 hours from the process. The pressurized containers of anhydrous sometimes blow up, of course. More casualties. But enterprise never dies — and folly, madness, greed march on.

Meth is big business in rural America. It's distributed by motorcycle gangs and transported into the smaller metros with the produce. It reaches the cities in bulk.

This phenomenon first reached the notice of Big City media in 2000 when the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, at Columbia University (CASA), published its report, No Place to Hide, a study commissioned by the United States Conference of Mayors and funded by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. One of the study's findings was that, in 1999, 8th graders and high school students in rural areas and small cities used meth much more than children in large metro areas. Use rates in rural areas are climbing — declining everywhere else.

The phenomenon surprised the public but was not unknown to drug enforcement agencies in the several states. Awareness of the problem led the DEA to launch its Meth Tour in America to publicize the problem. The slogan of the tour is used as the title of this panel.

Most people living in our major cities hear such news with some disquiet. We like to think that innocence survives down on the farm. Not so. Rural areas are not exempt from the troubles that beset the rest of the nation. Out in the country demoralization takes various forms. Small farmers are up against corporate farming. The population is still draining away toward the cities, actually the suburbs. It's difficult to make ends meet.

Meth is a potent drug. It induces euphoria. Users feel energetic, have no appetite, do not need sleep. The drug acts more slowly on the body than cocaine but the effect can last from eight to 12 hours. Cocaine's effect fades in one or two. Habitual users can become severely disoriented, violent, paranoid, psychotic. Sometimes they do dreadful things. Here is a brief capsule from the CASA report:

In Fargo, North Dakota a man who claimed to be hallucinating while on meth burned his house down, killing his mother. An Arizona man high on meth for 24-hours stabbed his 14-year old son 29 times and then cut off his head, telling police he thought the boy was possessed. ¹

Psychotic symptoms can last months, sometimes years. Methamphetamine is a hard drug. Its effects are very serious. Educational efforts no doubt help — like the DEA's meth tour. The fundamental problems that induce people to reach for "ice" are systemic and societal. Education, upbringing, family cohesion — all these things play a role.

The great majority of the meth labs shown on the map, which records reports from 46 states made in 2001, have low capacity, being able to manufacture only about 8 ounces of meth a day. These labs account for only about 20% of all production. Most meth is produced in so-called "superlabs." Superlabs are principally run by Mexican drug rings of some sophistication on U.S. soil. Their typical output is 10 pounds a day.

The troubling social trend meth represents is that human-made (not merely human-grown) substances are manufactured everywhere. The many labs, all over the country, make it difficult to think of drug lords are being strange aliens living abroad. They are ourselves.

Source: Map. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, National Clandestine Laboratory Database, accessible at http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/methmap.html. Background: No Place to Hide, Columbia University, National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, http://www.casacolumbia.org/.