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| A Rising Threat--Broken Families and Torn Communities Heavy Price of Methamphetamine Abuse |
April 21, 2000 |
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Last Tuesday the Albuquerque Police Department shut down a lethal drug lab in the midst of an apartment complex housing families with small children. Apartment residents were shocked that this ticking time bomb was found so close to them. As police raided the apartment, the amateur chemists--in a desperate attempt to conceal their drug-making activity--poured much of the evidence down the toilet, causing a reaction that dirtied the surrounding air with poisonous gas. Half a dozen people were arrested in connection with this latest example of the threat methamphetamine poses to our communities and families.
This latest bust came just a day after I hosted a congressional forum in Albuquerque with the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime on the challenges New Mexico faces in battling Methamphetamine.
There’s no question that meth is a cancer that is eating away at our families and communities. And it’s a lucrative business. With $1,000 worth of chemicals and easily-purchased equipment, a weekend chemist can make a pound of crank worth more than $10,000. But the cost we pay in broken families and torn communities is one New Mexico can’t afford.
DEA undercover agents, as well as domestic violence advocates and treatment counselors, say that New Mexico is seeing more and more violent crime and domestic violence associated directly with meth use. It`s hard to forget one of New Mexico`s most notorious cases of Methamphetamine abuse and the terrible violence it can cause. Eric Starr Smith is serving a life sentence today after violently stabbing his 14-year-old son to death and decapitating him while hallucinating that his son was the devil.
Some local crime-fighters say this problem has the potential to become an epidemic if not quickly addressed. States throughout the country, including New Mexico, have seen an upsurge of methamphetamine trafficking and abuse throughout the last five years. I first met with law enforcement on this topic in early 1999, then again this year after the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) ran out of funds for meth lab cleanup.
Chief Galvin, Sheriff Bowdich, and Sheriff Golden from Torrance County have each told me of their concerns with increased methamphetamine activity in the areas they are sworn to protect. Labs are dangerous not only to those who respond to them, but to people--mothers, fathers, and small children--who may unknowingly be within yards of a dangerous and volatile kitchen-sink laboratory. I want to make certain that law enforcement officials have the resources they need to do their jobs effectively and safely.
In 1997, the Albuquerque Police Department seized 13 pounds of Methamphetamine in the entire year. Just this last Thursday, three years later, State Police seized almost 16 pounds in a single bust just outside of Grants, New Mexico. In 1995, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency seized 9 illegal Methamphetamine producing laboratories. In 1999, they seized close to sixty of these dangerous, volatile, explosive drug factories-a four-year-increase of 600%.
Meth, known as speed, crank, or ice, is referred to as the “poor man`s cocaine.” It has a physiological effect on the user similar to cocaine, and lasts longer. It acts as a stimulant that can keep users awake for as much as two days, increasing their heart rate and leading to anger, violence, and hallucinations.
After my original meeting with law enforcement officials last year, I was successful in securing $750,000 for New Mexico law enforcement to use in their meth-fighting efforts. But we can`t stop there.
At Monday’s forum, the mother of a former meth addict testified about the painful experience her family had with the drug and how it almost destroyed her family. A former Albuquerque resident testified about the thousands of dollars in damage a meth lab caused to her home after the people she was renting to botched a session of cooking Methamphetamine. Representatives from the Albuquerque Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Torrance County Sheriff`s office, and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area testified about the challenges they and their officers face as law enforcement officials. Drug treatment counselors and the Special Commissioner for Domestic Violence with the State District Court testified about how difficult it is to treat meth addicts, and about the frightening increase in domestic violence cases related to methamphetamine abuse.
This summer the Congress will draft and consider comprehensive legislation to address this growing problem. We will now do so with first hand accounts of how New Mexicans are affected by methamphetamine. I’ll keep you posted on what happens.
You can also check my website at www.house.gov/wilson for more information about this and other issues before Congress, and you can sign up for a free, weekly e-newsletter. |
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