Methamphetamine: Not Just Someone Else’s Problem
Deadly drug moves into the Granite State

A series of booking photos (scroll to bottom of page) taken over a 10-year span shows an attractive, 28-year-old blonde who changes into a gaunt, sickly woman looking much older than her 37 years.

The woman’s health and appearance was drastically altered by her body’s addiction to methamphetamine, which Newsweek magazine, in its August, 2005, cover story, called “America’s most dangerous drug.”

New Hampshire has yet to see the large numbers of methamphetamine addicts that Western and Midwestern states have experienced. But law enforcement officials say New Hampshire’s large expanses of wilderness are attracting those who manufacture the drug. In fact, 12 of the 18 methamphetamine labs discovered in New England in 2004 and 2005 were located in New Hampshire, many of them in rural Grafton County.

The effects of meth
Methamphetamine, also known as meth, crystal, ice, fire, croak, crank, glass, crypto, and white cross, is a powerful stimulant that affects the central nervous system. It makes people feel euphoric; its high can last for six to eight hours or more. Unlike some drugs that can take years to form an addiction, meth can cause addiction from a single use.

But though they keep trying, many users find it impossible to replicate that first feeling of euphoria experienced after initial use. People addicted to meth may suffer irreparable brain damage, as well as other health problems, financial ruin, loss of family, and death.

When on an extended meth high (called “tweaking”) people lose interest in eating and sleeping. Their only goal is to keep the high going for as long as they can, sometimes for days. Paranoia, hallucinations, violent behavior, and psychosis are common. Meth addicts’ typical neglect of personal hygiene is compounded by the smell of meth in their perspiration, a smell described as “putrid.”

Dentists across the country are discovering “meth mouth” caused by long-term methamphetamine use. Symptoms include tooth decay and receding gums. While on meth, some users begin picking at their skin to rid their bodies of imaginary bugs. Perhaps the worst effect is permanent brain damage, as meth destroys the part of the brain that registers pleasure. Long-term meth users can no longer feel pleasure, no matter how much of the drug they use.

Effects on children
Addicted parents may abuse or neglect their children when under the influence of the meth. Some children become “cooking assistants” to parents manufacturing the drug. Others get injured when the “cooking” process erupts into fires or explosions.
Children growing up or around a meth lab may carry the remnants of the drug dust on their clothing and skin. When children are removed from their home, all their possessions must be destroyed because they too are contaminated.

The walls, floors, furniture, draperies and other furnishings in a home, apartment, or garage where methamphetamine is produced and where wastes are disposed typically require assessment and cleanup. The average cost of a cleanup is about $5,000, but can reach $150,000. Who should pay the bill for this cleanup? The building’s owner? The renter? The town? A federal agency? What happens when those resources are exhausted?

Environmental hazards
In addition to the human toll, methamphetamine also poses a hazard for the environment. Meth paraphernalia left on the open ground can contaminate the soil and water runoff can pollute surface waters, wetlands, and groundwater. In some areas of the country, runoff from meth manufacturing facilities has killed livestock and destroyed large areas of trees and vegetation.

Experts estimate that the manufacture of each pound of meth produces five to six pounds of hazardous wastes that often get disposed of illegally in the environment. To make matters more challenging, many of these sites are in residential settings. This means children and other occupants of the property, as well as nearby neighbors, may be exposed to hazardous chemicals and harmful gases during and after the cooking process.

Cheap and easy to manufacture
Meth is cheaply and easily manufactured from readily available ingredients such as decongestant tablets (pseudoephedrine), iodine, Drano, rubbing alcohol, salt, common matches, and commercial fertilizer. “Lab” equipment includes such common items as plastic tubing, Mason jars, coffee filters, soda bottles, blenders, camera batteries, propane cylinders, and hot plates, electric frying pans or camp stoves.

New Hampshire’s Attorney General and county attorneys, as well as local, state and federal law enforcement officials, have begun working together to keep the methamphetamine problem from escalating in New Hampshire. Despite relatively low numbers of meth users, the social and economic costs of meth addiction are high.

Farm and forest factories
Methamphetamine’s relative ease of manufacture has long range implications for communities and landowners. People who make methamphetamines may use secluded farm or forest land to hide their illegal activities. Landowners who frequently walk their land are less likely to become victims of unauthorized use of their land.

Here are a few tips to help landowners protect themselves and their property:

• Don’t accept cash for the use of your property.
• Know what happens on your property.
• Don’t bury, move, or examine any trash found on your property.
• If you discover the trappings of meth manufacturing: red-stained coffee filters, plastic bottles with attached tubing, empty cold-tablet packaging, don’t touch or move anything. You could be putting your health at risk. Don’t confront anyone involved in suspicious activity on your property. If your town has an anonymous reporting system, call that number. Report any suspicious activity on your land to local law enforcement officials, but leave the dangerous part to those who are specially trained for cleanup.

Inform yourself and take action
A recently formed New Hampshire Government Leaders Methamphetamine Task Force has developed a statewide strategy to keep meth use from growing in New Hampshire.

Local, state and federal officials are committed to getting and keeping methamphetamine issues in the open for citizens to learn more. As a community member, learn all you can about this drug and its devastating impacts. You can mobilize your fellow community members to become more aware of the dangers of methamphetamine, co-sponsor open forums and protect yourself and your family.

To learn more:

• How meth destroys the body
• Meth pharmacology (how it works in the body)
• Meth Q & A
• National Institute on Drug Abuse Infofacts: Methamphetamine
• New Hampshire Government Leaders Methamphetamine Task Force
• Photo gallery: Faces of meth