Rural America Struggles with Meth

Rural communities across the U.S. are struggling to cope with the growing problems of methamphetamine production, sales, and use.

California, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri lead the nation in meth-lab seizures, according to federal officials. Local officials are dealing with a drug problem unlike any previous, where $100 in chemicals can quickly and easily be turned into $1,000 of meth.

"It's the first drug in the history of the United States we can make, distribute, sell, take, all here in the Midwest," said Detective Jason Grellner, of the Franklin County (Mo.) Sheriff's Department. "You can't grow a coca plantation or an opium plantation here to get your heroin or cocaine, and marijuana takes four or five months to grow a good plant. With methamphetamine you can go out and for a couple hundred dollars you can make your drugs that day."

The meth problem in rural America has exploded over the past five years. In Clay County, Iowa, for instance, no meth labs were found in 1999. By 2001, county police had seized and destroyed 56. Nationwide, 16,800 meth labs were uncovered between September 2003 and September 2004, up from 15,300 in 2001-02.

"This is the most serious law-enforcement problem we've ever faced in the history of our state, because this substance is so addictive and so easy and cheap to make," said North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. "When we look at our prison population, 10 years ago nobody had even heard of it. Now, 60 percent of our male inmates are users, and we're building a brand new prison for female users." Few rural states have the facilities or money needed to provide treatment for their meth-addicted population, however.

Mom-and-pop meth operations are common, but the DEA estimates that most meth sold in the U.S. comes from "super labs" in Mexico and California, run by organized-crime groups.

In addition to addiction and crime, rural states also are grappling with the cleanup of toxic meth-lab sites. Each pound of meth produced yields up to six pounds of toxic waste.

Rural states are trying to address the meth problem by better controlling the precursor chemicals used to create meth, notably cold tablets."

Source: www.4therapy.com