Drug problems

Several people were driving down Cromwell Road in 1999 making meth when there was an explosion. The people escaped the vehicle and attempted to dispose of the evidence by throwing it over the side of a concrete bridge. Three people were badly burned and transported to Iowa City for medical care.

According to Creston Police Sergeant Eric Shawler and Afton Police Chief John Coulter, this fire was an uncommon incident in Union County.

But, the cause — methamphetamine — is a common problem.

“It’s easy to make. Everything you need is right here,” Coulter said. “You can drive in towns and hit every small place and buy pseudo(ephedrine), ... come back and you have enough to make enough meth for yourself.”

Coulter said methamphetamine is prevalent in Union County to a wide demographic.

Meth

Methamphetamine, a psychostimulant, is an illegal drug across the country. It is easy to manufacture because the ingredients are locally sold.

“It’s very prevalent,” Coulter said. “I think in the age group 30 to 70, that it’s very much the drug of choice.”

In the past five years, the method of choice for methamphetamine manufacturers is the shake and bake method. This method is easier to produce than the standard Birch method because all ingredients are mixed in one small bottle and shaken.

Afton man Adam Roan was charged with conspiracy to produce methamphetamine and possession of precursors February 2013 after 50 shake and bake meth labs were found in his basement.

Demographic

Meth, unlike other drugs, spans across the demographic board, according to Coulter.

“It’s cheaper than cocaine,” Coulter said. “The other side of that is prescription drug use is up real high, but it’s generally the same people are doing it to cushion their manic drug episodes.”

Results of meth use include paranoid schizophrenia, rapid weight loss, damage to fine motor skills and sensitivity to loud noises and bright lights.

“As far as socioeconomic, it covers all strata,” Coulter said. “In our community, we had a jeweler that had a very lucrative jewelry business that was involved.”

Another issue Coulter said was a person’s will power may not be strong enough to avoid addiction.

“A lot of people think that their will power is strong enough that they can use it without getting addicted, but it is so psychologically addictive,” Coulter said. “It’s a very small number that can quit cold turkey and never go back to it, and they’ll tell you, the crazy is still there.”

However, the amount of people actually using meth may not be known because people avoid talking to police, even during an incident.

“If we don’t know about it, they won’t tell us about it,” Shawler said. “Even if they get burned, they’ll get treatment by themselves, so most of your meth lab incidents, chances of them calling 911 are very slim.”

Prevention

Recently, studies have been done across the country showing some drug prevention programs don’t work.

“They have found DARE does not work. The research done by the Department of Justice in recent years shows it does not have any significant impact on drug usage,” Coulter said. “Now, I don’t know that anybody is doing any (drug prevention) because there’s no funding for it other than officers going in and talking with individual groups.”

Coulter said there used to be staff at Green Hills Area Education Agency with training in drug prevention, but there hasn’t been any recently.

Even containing a methamphetamine lab after a fire is difficult, as firefighters and police cannot do hazardous material response.

“Mostly it’s evacuate the area, seal it off and let the meth lab response team come in and they’ll do the search warrant,” Coulter said.