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It would be convenient to think of crystal methamphetamine use as just another moral panic, such as the one epitomized by the 1936 film "Reefer Madness"—a cult classic for young pot smokers widely recognized as a propaganda film documenting the "evils" of smoking marijuana.
A humorous footnote to an era of prohibition on pot, the film is no longer considered an accurate depiction of the social scourge marijuana was once pegged to be, although pot is still the first priority of the ongoing war on drugs.
Today, though, court judges and emergency room doctors are reacting to Internet links that publish gut-wrenching images of the "Faces of Meth" found on Web sites like www.oregonmethwatch.org when they discuss detrimental health effects related to meth use. In the minds of users the current campaign could even be viewed as part of the same 1936 tactic revisited as "Meth Madness." Yet, most claim that meth addiction is altogether a different animal and users often recognize that their health is slipping downhill due to their abuse of volatile chemicals, which pose both environmental and safety threats.
However, "scare tactics are not the key to success," said Chief Probation Officer Teresa Espedal with the Blaine County Probation Department. She said that although the chief problem her office faces is youths using marijuana, meth use is on the rise. "We've seen an increase in positive meth tests."
The drug, which can be ingested, injected or inhaled, is known to lead to major organ failure, including heart attacks, even in children, said Jan Rosenquist, an emergency room physician. She recalled one meth-related death at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center and another Lifeflight to Boise for emergency treatment for the effects of the drug.
With such dire consequences related to meth use, it seems unfair to relate marijuana and methamphetamine use at all. However, "permissible pot," like alcohol, is typically a precursor to using meth, according to Espedal, healthcare workers, legal counsel, police and judges alike.
"It's really a problem everywhere," Rosenquist said. "It's so prevalent we're seeing two (cases) a day with something related to meth in a recreational drug use history or someone who is currently using."
Although it is still illegal to grow or possess in most states, marijuana is a commonly accepted drug. In mountain resort towns it is arguably as much a part of the culture as beer and sunglasses.
Partaking in a joint and a few beers after a day on the slopes may seem like a harmless form of relaxation, but chemical permissiveness may be a major factor behind problems associated with meth. And, the problems are showing up in all sectors of the Wood River Valley, said Eric Thomas, a youth worker with the Blaine County Probation Department.
In addition to showing up in the emergency room, meth is impacting schools and law enforcement workloads. Not unlike drug-related crime traditionally associated with heroin, meth is also known as a catalyst for theft to cover a score and increases in sexual promiscuity and violence. In fact, all corners of the community have felt some effect, including the county indigent fund and some employers who have lost employees to addiction.
"We're definitely seeing younger kids using or trying meth," said Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Warren Christiansen, who hears juvenile court cases on Tuesdays and has identified another emerging trend with meth. He said seeing 15- and 16-year-old youths who are using the drug is not uncommon.
"What is blowing me away is young girls who are using it," he said. "It's a growing concern in the Wood River Valley."
Certainly, using pot is socially acceptable, whereas being labeled a "speed freak," someone who is "addicted to amphetamines or methamphetamines," according to a dictionary published in 1975, has not had the same panache. But, the popularity of meth as a way to lose weight and fit in socially seems to be gaining ground.
"They were excluded," Thomas said, explaining that in his opinion as his office is struggling to address increasing meth use, meth addicts should not be ostracized, but brought into the community.
Dealing with the problem has much to do with how a community wants to see itself, Thomas noted.
"This isn't a social worker or law enforcement problem. It's a community issue and we need the political leaders here."
Espedal and treatment counselors such as Nancy Kneeland, with the Hailey branch of The Walker Center, a drug and alcohol treatment facility, said that in almost all cases meth users began with alcohol and pot. Therefore, some community leaders, including Wood River High School Assistant Principal John Blackman, believe marijuana is a "gateway drug" and still part of the meth problem, which Magistrate Judge John Varin of Fairfield has called an epidemic in the state.
"This is just a huge issue. We didn't understand what we were dealing with 12 years ago," said Varin, following a meth subcommittee meeting in Boise earlier this month. Varin, who has focused a great deal of time on the front lines of meth addiction, working extensively in drug courts, said an obstetrics doctor testified that five out of the past 50 mothers he saw were meth-addicted. "It's just gotten worse in my mind. It's right behind alcohol now. I'm just dealing with the results of it and it's not nice. These kids are horribly addicted."
Meth drug cases are very difficult to handle with juveniles, Espedal said, in part because children living at home still have their basic needs met even if they are highly addicted to meth.
"One of the frustrations is how hard it is to get somebody into the right treatment center," Christiansen said, explaining that even in juvenile court the case load includes a lot of felony and battery cases. "There are so many people who have their head in the sand. (Battery charges) we're getting are meth related. There is a lot of anger that accompanies meth use. If they start directing that in the wrong way ... we have a big problem."
Lt. Dan Thornton, a drug investigator with the Idaho State Police, pointed out that "parents are dumbfounded by how their kids get so involved with (meth)." He said a tendency is for families to avoid the need to make their children accountable for their actions, naively chalking petty theft up to normal adolescent behavior, which he said in many cases leads to more serious crimes as addicts strive to feed a meth habit.
Thornton, who came from northern Idaho, where police discovered a new meth lab every week, described trafficking in the Magic Valley as a more loose affiliation of dealers where the substance is distributed in small quantities. Police busts where pounds of meth are found in one take are rare, although southern Idaho seems to be a hub for distribution to other parts of the state, he said. Wood River Valley police have found a similar situation locally with traffickers equally decentralized and difficult to track.
According to 5th Judicial District Court records, of the 247 charges filed for possession of controlled substances over the past three years and the 288 charges for possession of drug paraphernalia in the same period, statistics do not specifically cite the percentage in terms of methamphetamine use. However, where three charges were filed in the period ending this month for marijuana trafficking, eight charges were filed for trafficking in methamphetamine or amphetamine.
Thornton said street dealers also tend to be users, therefore there is a high burnout rate and trails to specific drug sources can fizzle quickly.
"The higher-level dealers realize the dangers and use less," Thornton said. "A street-level user—we could arrest them all day long."
Thornton explained that in traditional drug investigations the goal is to go after the original source, but with meth the impact is so quick and the supply lines so loose that new approaches to policing the drug are required.
Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling said his January outreach letter will focus on meth use in the valley. The drug was also the focus of December's quarterly meeting of the Blaine County Community Justice Council, which reviewed a Lincoln County newsletter that focused entirely on the problem of meth use in that community.
The group, which includes probation staff and was joined by Blaine County Commissioner Chairwoman Sarah Michael, discussed the possibility of organizing neighborhood watches, establishing safe houses and finding ways to boost access to treatment resources and funding.
The trend toward meth use is also hitting the county pocketbook in the form of medical expenses paid for health care of prisoners. The state is seeing an increase in demand for child protective services for children discovered in the dangerous environment of a household ensnared in meth use or manufacture, said Tom Shannahan, public affairs officer for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
"It's what's on everybody's mind because it's so prevalent," said Dawn Anderson, the District 5 state probation manager, who has been with the department for 17 years. "When I started we had some people who were on meth, but it's growing. It don't think it knows socio-economic boundaries."
At of the end of November, there were nearly 1,400 adult offenders managed by probation and parole professionals in the Twin Falls area, including Twin Falls, Cassia, Minidoka, Jerome, Gooding, Camas, Lincoln and Blaine counties. There are about 11,000 adults under supervision in communities statewide.
Ellery Summer, a senior state probation and parole officer, reinforced Anderson's evaluation of the meth problem in the county he has served since the 1980s.
"Ten to 15 years ago the only people using (meth) were bikers. Now it's everyone," Ellery said, as he went through his clipboard of cases at the judicial building in Hailey last week. His list included Damika Goodenough, 16, who has been charged as an adult with a felony violation of trafficking methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of Hailey Elementary School. Goodenough was arrested Dec. 2 with Wessler Corrales-Castro, 24, at a home on Pine Street in Hailey. Police confiscated about 400 grams of methamphetamine from the home, said Prosecuting Attorney Jim Thomas.
Corrales-Castro is still being held in the county jail on $100,000 bond. However, Goodenough's whereabouts are unknown, although a transcript of Corrales-Castro's arraignment hearing when he was bound over to 5th District Court for trial indicates that the teenage girl asked police for help with her methamphetamine addiction. Stricken from the record was also an indication that the pair has a 6-month-old child who was put into child protective custody.
