hilltopics
monday, february 19, 2001
in-depth news series
or comments, contact tori o'toole or mindie miller at 864-4854 or editor@kansan.com
6A
Fewer than 3,000 people live in Norton County, but there is still demand for methamphetamine. Even in such tiny towns as Lenora, police have found mom-and-pop labs used to make the drug. Norton County Sheriff Troy Tromson estimates that a dozen labs continue to churn out the highly addictive stimulant. Photo by Phil Cauthon/KANSAN
Meth use up and hitting the home front
Continued from page 1A
The current level of in-state meth production is already more than local law enforcement can handle.
"With four people including myself for the whole county, we just don't have the manpower to track down labs," Thomson said. "There's a serious meth problem in Norton county. I see methamphetamine users every single day. Every single day. I mean, we see more meth than marijuana, and that's strange. But to make a dent in what's out there, you have got to have a guy dedicated to methamphetamine. Still, if we hired somebody today, we're going to generate more work, and we'd need more people for that. There's only so much taxpayers will earn."
The truck used to haul away Andrew Nelson's belongings is all that remains of his home in Lenora. Nelson's trailer was condemned after he was busted by the Norton County sheriff for manufacturing the drug methamphetamine there. Although making meth requires toxic chemicals that spew noxious ammonia fumes, Nelson's neighbors had no idea their block was home to such a biohazard.
Photo by Phil Couton/KANSAN
"It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. The KBI is the only thing that keeps us above water."
But even the KBI is swamped.
Although the number of annual buests leveled out somewhat last year — up just 37 percent from 1999 compared to the 270 percent jump the previous year — KBI narcotics chief Kirk Thompson said
Thompson: says lack of resources has made it hard to control moll labs
the drop did not indicate a slowdown in Kansas meth production.
"Quite frankly, we're at a saturation point," Thompson said. "There's a lot more meth labs out there, but there's not much more we can do with the resources we have."
Besides being a controlled substance, the makeshift labs used to cook meth are literally toxic waste sites that emit volatile fumes and leak caustic chemicals. The lethal byproducts are often strewn about the lab, turning each bust — like the one in tiny Norton — into a biohazard containment operation.
An insidious enemy
Everything about methamphetamine makes it a formidable foe.
Cleaning up labs is time-consuming and expensive; at least $1,300 each and usually $3,500 or more. And it's dangerous work — according to a recent FBI bulletin, entering a meth lab is "no less dangerous than pursuing an armed suspect."
Perhaps the most frustrating facet of meth — and the reason labs are booming in
Kansas — is how easy it is to make and how hard labs are to find. With a handful of household items, a recipe off the Internet and a few square feet of privacy, a cook could turn a 1,000 percent profit in just a couple of hours.
Then there's the social cost. As anyone who's tried it will attest, meth is evil. But the stimulant — which leaves users delusional, hyper-paranoid and aggressive — is powerfully addictive. Rehab success rates are lower than most drugs: less than 30 percent for those in treatment come clean.
And often, those who don't as well. Experts say meth use often leads to domestic violence and other brutal crimes. Meth heads — or so-called "tweakers" when they're coming off the drug's euphoria — will resort to diabolic deeds to get their next fix.
Quite simply, methamphetamine devours those who use it.
Horror stories abound from law enforcers. Manson-like murders of family members for money. Mummeling of fellow addicts from paranoid delusions. Toddlers, or "meth orphans," found forgotten or with chemical burns from playing on ether-
soaked carpets. Desperate addicts subjecting themselves to brutality or repeated rape. And so long as law enforcement remains
And so long as law enforcement rema-
swamped with combating the drug itself.
swap places with investigating crimes like these — related to meth or otherwise — is relegated to something of a second priority.
In other words, the KBI and the Kansas community face a daunting challenge.
An unbalanced battle
That challenge is compounded in Kansas by the scarce resources available to track down
Thomson: says he sees muth users every day
and clean up labs, process forensic evidence and educate and rehabilitate communities.
On the enforcement side, the KBI has enough funding for 30 narcotics agents — roughly one agent for every three counties. Compare that with Mississippl — a state with comparable land area and population
Today is the first day of a five-day series on methamphetamine. The complete version of this project will be available at www.kansan.com as each com
ponent is printed in the Kansan.
Today – Life or Meth, overview
Tomorrow – Kitches of Meth, the drug's producers
Wednesday – Faces of Meth, users
Thursday – All Methed Up, the drug and the environment
Friday – Fight to the Meth, Kansas legislators and law enforcers
All of the people named in this series are real individuals. However, some sources' last names have been withheld to protect their identity or at the request of prison officials.
This story is part of a joint effort by The Wichita Eagle and students and faculty of the University of Kansas School of Journalism. The project was funded by a grant from the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
Kansas meth-lab seizures by county
The black numbers represent 2000 seizures and the smaller numbers represent 1997 seizures. The labeled counties had 20 or more seizures in 2000.
Source: Kansas Bureau of Investigation
Kyle Ramsev/KANSAN
- which has 190 narcotics agents.
Thanks to a recent $2 million emergency federal grant, the KBI should be able to hire a few more narcotics agents. Still, without substantially more funding and commitment from the state government, Kansas won't beat meth, said Jeff Brandau, KBI narcotics undercover agent.
"If we had more people, we'd find more labs. It's that simple. They're out there. The 700-some labs are not all that's in Kansas by any stretch of the imagination," Brandau said, estimating that the 702 labs busted last year represent only half of the problem.
"The Mexican meth problem is huge here, too," he said. "We need to be more focused on it without a doubt. If we had more people we would. But we're limited. Still, the labs here — we have got to be real concerned about them because these are Kansas kids, these are Kansas families, these are Kansas environmental problems."
- Edited by Leita Schutes
---