Wisconsin Public Television Transcript: Meth In Wisconsin Original Air Date: February 14, 2006 (police sirens) Man: Okay, yeah. We're going to get this like right now. Woman: You will go to prison or you will die. Woman: I had to have it to get out of bed. I was addicted. Frederica Freyberg: What were you doing in that garage? Man: I was cooking meth. Man: Some people call it the poor man's cocaine. Man: As bad as it is and as addictive as it is, it is the drug of choice for right now. Man: It could lead to bleeding in the brain. Man: This has been by far the worst drug I've ever seen. Announcer: This "In Wisconsin" special is made possible in part by the people of Alliant Energy who bring safe, reliable and environmentally-friendly energy to keep homes, neighborhoods and life in Wisconsin running smoothly. Alliant Energy, offering energy-saving ideas on the Web. The University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, providing cancer research, education and treatment, UW Comprehensive Cancer Center, Comprehensive as designated by the National Cancer Institute. Information available on the Web. Wisconsin's Technical Colleges providing local education for the crucial occupations essential to our communities. Wisconsin's Technical Colleges, communities first. Frederica Freyberg: I'm Frederica Freyberg. Methamphetamine in Wisconsin. For the next half hour hear the toll this most addictive of illegal drugs is taking within our borders. We'll describe what meth is, hear firsthand what it does to addicts, and what law enforcement and state officials are doing to stem its tide. According to public health departments, it's estimated nearly 10,000 people in Wisconsin, age 12 and older, have used meth in the last year. By all indications, that number is growing. Meth is a synthetic drug originally derived from amphetamine. It's a powerful stimulant with little medical use and big potential for abuse. Woman: Once you do it once, you are addicted. Freyberg: Users would tell you the addiction carries a heavy cost in many ways, even if the drug itself is comparatively cheap. Enough meth for an all-day high costs about $100. That much cocaine would cost at least triple that. Nearly 80 percent of meth distributed in Wisconsin is imported into the state from super-labs. These are illegal processing plants, mostly in California and south of the border in Mexico. But it can also be processed and cooked locally in small home-based labs using easily available and inexpensive chemicals. Mitch Knack: You can buy it at, you know, local stores, Holiday, Wal-Marts, Fleet Farm. Freyberg: Sales of one critical ingredient, pseudoephedrine, contained in cold medicine with brand names like Sudafed and others, are now limited, but not banned by state law. That has put a crimp in local cooks' ability to make meth. That's one good thing, because the home-style method renders less pure results and more danger. Knack: It can explode and splatter on you and melt your skin. Man: Some of the things that go into the manufacture of methamphetamine is Acetone, Muriatic Acid, Drano. As you can see, all of these products by themselves, most of them if you took them individually, they'd kill you. Dr. Carson Harris: You wonder why would a person do this to themselves or why would they put this particular product in their body. Crystal: It's like the best feeling of euphoria and focusness. It was convenient when my kid was up all night long. Freyberg: Smoked or snorted, injected or swallowed, meth gives users what they call the highest high, but it also delivers the lowest low. Emergency room doctors report dangerous psychosis and violence in people on meth, and the meth skin. Infected sores picked raw by addicts trying to claw away imaginary bugs. Doctors say it's not unusual for patients brought in on meth to suffer strokes and permanent brain damage. Methamphetamine was reportedly first synthesized by a Japanese chemist in the early 1900s. Later, Kamikaze pilots were said to have taken high doses of it before their missions during World War II. Today the drug is even stronger and more potent. Harris: The thing about meth is that it's just such a powerful drug, that it actually seems to be taking over this area. Freyberg: The area hardest hit so far by methamphetamine is the northwest part of Wisconsin. State crime lab figures show about 100 meth cases in the year 2000. By 2004, the number had grown to more than 500. By the close of 2005, the State Division of Criminal Investigation reports 734 meth cases in Wisconsin. Bailiff in Court: All rise. David McQuillen: This Monday morning, I had seven new methamphetamine cases in jail. Freyberg: Methamphetamine that's crossing the St. Croix River to get here, because Minneapolis is one of the destinations for traffickers importing drugs. And it's the Midwest meth Mecca that's feeding western Wisconsin. Police say criminal gangs in the city are shipping pounds and pounds of it across the border into Wisconsin every week. And increasingly, the meth that finds its way into the small towns and burgeoning suburbs of northwest Wisconsin is made in Mexico. Thomas Kelly: It comes through the southwest border. It could be driven across, carried across, flown across. Freyberg: Still, Wisconsin has been called an island surrounded by worse meth problems in border states like Iowa and Minnesota. People battling the methamphetamine tide in Wisconsin's worst-hit zip codes say that's only because it hasn't yet fully hit Milwaukee. Rep. Kitty Rhoades: We lost the war with crack because we didn't pay enough attention. We didn't believe it could be as bad as it was. We now know that this is worse. Woman, "Cathy": If I could help just one person not have to go through what I went through, then telling my story was worth it. Freyberg: This St. Croix County woman says meth gave her the energy to work the night shift and get her housework done during the day. But over a period of four years, she began snorting so much meth, she came very close to death, and yet she couldn't stop. Cathy: My nose was so full of scabs from it burning, basically, the inside of my nose out, that I would have to take like little razor blades and cut the scabs out of my nose to be able to get it up there. Freyberg: Cathy says she's been clean for eight years. She hides her face to protect her teenage daughter. Cathy: I was a terrible mother. Freyberg: Why? Cathy: Because I would sleep. When I came off of the meth, I would fall asleep, and she would have to take care of herself for eight, nine, 10 hours. And she was a year-and-a-half old. Freyberg: Cathy lost custody of her child, and then did even more meth. Cathy: The longest I ever stayed up was 14 days. And after 14 days, it felt like somebody was ripping my fingernails out, like pulling-- because my body was so dehydrated. Freyberg: Despite her powerful message, Cathy believes telling the story of meth use is not as powerful as seeing it. Harris: You can see the meth skin, and what that basically is is a lot of sores and ulcers on the skin. Not a very pretty picture actually, because the meth users will feel as though there's something crawling underneath their skin, like bugs. What they will try to do is pick those bugs out or claw them out or scratch them out, and it leaves sores on their skin. Jackie Peterson: You just felt like you had things crawling all over you. You know, it just made you feel all itchy. Freyberg: Jackie Peterson has her own before and after mug shots. This one-time nurse's aide from New Richmond lost it all to her meth addiction. Peterson: I couldn't work. I didn't work for like the last two years. I couldn't comprehend what to do. Freyberg: After an arrest for delivering methamphetamine, Jackie Peterson landed in jail. Peterson: I was scared. You know you're staying here. Freyberg: Jailers say this is what meth addicts look like their first days in jail. After sometimes days or even weeks without, they sleep. Woman: This one's suicidal. Freyberg: They are closely watched. This is the meth addict's lowest low. It follows quickly on the heels of the highest high. Cathy: Wow! I mean, it was instantly, like your adrenalin, my whole body warmed inside. The more that I used it, when I would come down, I would be just depressed, suicidally depressed. Freyberg: And paranoid, a hallmark of meth use. Cathy: I would hide. I would hide in my house. I would hear a helicopter go over. I thought they were coming to get me. I was literally scared of my own shadow. Peterson: You like keep yourself in the house during the day and then you come out at night because you feel that nobody can see you at night. Harris: Very severe hallucinations, paranoia. That's going on with the patient that lasts for hours. Freyberg: Emergency room Dr. Carson Harris describes the state as severe psychosis. He says people admitted to ER on meth are often agitated and very violent. That also spills onto police blotters. Sheriff Dennis Hillstead: We're seeing more violence within our domestic situations. We've had some stabbings in the county that have been meth-related. Man: It's devastating to families, and it's devastating to kids. Crystal: I started shooting it... Freyberg: This young River Falls mother was first offered meth at a party. She liked the effect, like the weight loss after having a baby. Crystal: I had gained 68 pounds when I had her, and after that I lost it like right away, like within the first two months I like lost it all, and plus more. Freyberg: But Crystal didn't, couldn't stop there. While pregnant again with her second child, she continued to shoot up. Crystal: I knew it was wrong and I'd be so sick. Freyberg: According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, fetal exposure to methamphetamine can cause an array of problems from pre-term delivery to congenital deformities. Crystal says her baby escaped harm, but after arrests and relapses, she says she feared she would eventually lose custody of her children. So just after Christmas 2004, she says she made up her mind to quit. Crystal: I want them to have a normal life, which is schedules, stability, and education. I mean, I just want them to live a normal, happy life. Freyberg: Crystal was one of the lucky. As a member of the Ho-Chunk nation, her tribe offered her long- term inpatient treatment. She's now in college. Mitch Knack was an addict with access to all the methamphetamine he could use. He shows the place he cooked meth, a garage on his small farm in St. Croix County. Knack is now in jail for the crime. He was able to talk with us under police guard. Knack credits jail with breaking the back of his addiction. Knack: I'd probably be dead. I'd probably be dead. That's the way I look at it. I mean, I look at the jail as saving my life. Freyberg: Jail time often serves as a meth addict's clean time. Drug counselors say it's only then, after two or three months behind bars, that the brain recovers enough for the person to understand and participate in treatment. Randy Cook: Treatment doesn't even start for these folks until 60 days, 90 days out, because of their limitation with thinking. Freyberg: Professionals say to work, treatment must be long-term. A full year at least. Most treatment programs last three months or less. But that costs money, thousands of dollars. Private treatment centers can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Those in the trenches say the need for meth treatment is rising, but that government dollars for it are not. Cook: Sometimes we feel like we're asked to go to war and we're fighting a big tank, but all we have to use is like a small weapon. Freyberg: Even people in law enforcement say they cannot arrest their way out of the problem. Increasingly, they are thinking of it as a public health crisis. Cathy: And this is what's going to happen to you if you use it. You will go to prison, or you will die. Peterson: You could probably walk on any street in Polk County and St. Croix County and ask for some dope and you could probably get it. It's that bad. Freyberg: Jackie Peterson should know how easy methamphetamine is to get. She's in jail on a meth conviction after being arrested in New Richmond. New Richmond is a city of about 7,000 in St. Croix County, known as the "city beautiful." Like all of St. Croix County, it's growing, a steady population influx spreading from Minneapolis / St. Paul. But the landscape surrounding these growing cities is rural. Towns like Star Prairie, where American flags line Main Street. But in sweet towns like this, something sour lurks beneath the surface. (police sirens) Freyberg: Danger, violence, addiction. Drug agents descending on small towns and cities in an uphill battle against methamphetamine. Mother being arrested to her child: Your sisters will be with you, okay. You give Mama a hug. (Child crying) Freyberg: Child welfare workers taking children out of meth houses, taking children from their parents, children who can be contaminated by meth in the air, on their toys, in the carpet. Children at risk for abuse and neglect at the hands of caregivers addicted to a potent paranoia-inducing stimulant. Kathy Dunlap: My job is safety, and so we remove children when we need to, in order to ensure their safety. Is that an easy thing for myself and my workers to do? No, it's heartbreaking. Fryeberg: Hard-hit counties pay a human toll and a financial one. Hillstead: About 60% to 65% of the inmates we have in jail are directly related to methamphetamine. Freyberg: The St. Croix county sheriff says meth has cost the county nearly $4 million in jail space alone. The county jail used to make nearly $2 million a year renting out extra beds. By 2003, a jail population explosion caused by methamphetamine, meant there was no extra space. Instead, a jail addition had to be built at a cost of nearly $2 million. McQuillen: The dates set for the preliminary hearing on both files... Freyberg: St. Croix County Prosecutor Dave McQuillen goes to court charging methamphetamine felonies almost every day, often several cases a day. That's hundreds a year. McQuillen's jurisdiction, as special meth prosecutor, covers three counties in northwestern Wisconsin. McQuillen: We've never had anything like this, where we've had to assign one prosecutor to one drug. Freyberg: St. Croix County District Attorney Eric Johnson assigned the special meth prosecutor in 2003 to wage this war. That was after domestic violence cases in the county skyrocketed. It turned out the cause was meth. Eric Johnson: I've been prosecuting for over 23 years, and this has been by far the worst drug I've ever seen. Police Officer: Police! Get on the ground! Get on the ground! Freyberg: The State Crime Lab handled more than 500 meth cases in Wisconsin by the end of 2004. By the end of 2005, that number was more than 700. Police Officer: You're under arrest. Johnson: Our major problem right now is organized crime. It has pretty much taken over this whole area. When I say this whole area, I mean western Wisconsin. Dan Breymeier: The weeds have been removed from the base of the stem. Freyberg: St. Croix Valley Drug Task Force Chief Dan Breymeier says the landscape here has changed in less than a decade. Breymeier says it used to be discovering a marijuana grove like this one would be a big police deal. But pot or cocaine are no longer at the top of his list. Methamphetamine now rules. Accounting for 95% of his task force caseload. Breymeier: We still have the person that has the small personal use type methamphetamine lab at their residence or in the back of a car. Freyberg: Meth labs that can explode or leech dangerous chemicals into the soil and water. Meth cooks so contaminated by their own meth making, agents have to scrub them down before taking them to jail. Dan Breymeier points out several former meth labs his team has discovered and disassembled, but Breymeier says in recent months the stakes have gotten higher, that the meth trade is morphing into something new. Breymeier: We're seizing more guns off the street. Our patrol people are coming across more guns. You know, it's just getting more and more violent. Hillstead: We're seeing a lot more of what is called the crystal ice, which is the more pure form of methamphetamine, much more potent. Kelly: It's Mexico and the traditional established trafficking organizations that came out of the interior of Mexico that have a high-quality, high-grade methamphetamine that is available to, you know, whoever wants it in the United States. Freyberg: Mexico has not restricted the sale of one of meth's key ingredients, pseudoephedrine. Many states in the U.S., including Wisconsin, have new laws limiting and tracking sales. The aim is to cut down on local home-based labs. McQuillen: We have been hit in the last year with a tremendous amount of methamphetamine coming in from outside. I think there's so much on the street that you don't need to risk making it. If it's easy to buy, you don't really need to make it. Freyberg: Easy to get, hard to quit. Expensive to combat. And even steadfast prosecutors and cops say they alone do not hold the key. Kelly: You can't arrest your way out of this situation. We have to educate and maybe we've lost the middle generation now, but if we start earlier on and educate the kids, maybe at least we'll save one, you know, out of each class, that's a step in the right direction. Peterson: There's nothing cool about it, absolutely nothing. It does nothing but ruin your life. Freyberg: Jackie Peterson speaks those words from jail. She says she first tried meth just for fun, but quickly became addicted to the powerful stimulant. She lost 60 pounds, lost her job and lost her freedom after an arrest for methamphetamine. Man: Okay, we're going to get this like right now. McQuillen: This is not ultimately going to be a law enforcement problem. Johnson: It's a public health crisis in St. Croix County. McQuillen: We have to take this seriously, and we all take smoking seriously now. I think everyone knows the hazards of smoking, the health costs, and so forth. We need to have the same attitude with methamphetamine. Freyberg: Kids are taught early about the danger of cigarettes. How smoking is bad for your health, and hurts your game. In northwestern Wisconsin, they are now being schooled in the danger of meth. Student: They'll literally pull us out of class to give us a big speech about it and stuff. Freyberg: These middle-schoolers in Hudson say the "faces of meth" display makes the biggest impression. Student: I don't want to look like that, or anything. It helps to have the images there. Student: You like understand after seeing it, like how scary it is. Johnson: We don't want kids experimenting with this. We don't want kids to use it as a diet drug. We don't want kids to get bad information and think this is something they can get into and then get out of. Cathy: I believe that my daughter will be approached with methamphetamines before she will be approached with marijuana or alcohol. It is everywhere. Freyberg: Cathy, as she wants to be called, suffered her own meth addiction. She cries at the thought of her own middle school age daughter trying it. Cathy: It would just kill me. I never want to see her go through what I went through, ever. Freyberg: The St. Croix County District Attorney believes in arrests and prosecution to reduce the supply of meth in his region. But in recent years, he and the sheriff have also teamed up to personally get a foothold in reducing demand. Hillstead: We sat down together and decided we would go everywhere we can, whether to a church or to a 4-H group. You can't imagine how many places I have been over the past five years just talking with people about methamphetamine. McQuillen: I feel like the community is starting to get behind us. Freyberg: But now the community needs to get ahead of it. McQuillen: We have to catch it before the addiction happens. Freyberg: But the addiction has already happened to hundreds, perhaps thousands of people within our borders. Peg Lautenschlager: If you look at the increase, particularly in use of methamphetamine, it's significant here in Wisconsin. It's something which, well, it comes from northwest Wisconsin and that area originally. We're now seeing it throughout the state. That is certainly a cause of concern. Freyberg: Lawmakers at all levels have stepped in and stepped up efforts to help suppress the spread. U.S. Senator Herb Kohl helped secure $7 million since 1999 for the State Department of Justice Meth Initiative. It goes to hire special agents and clean up meth labs. Kohl responded directly to the St. Croix County D.A. with a nearly $50,000 grant to help fund a first-time meth offender rehabilitation program, and about $150,000 federal grant dollars have gone toward the Tri- County Task Force that employs the special meth prosecutor out of Hudson. But more is needed, particularly for treatment. Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager has held summits on methamphetamine across the state, bringing law enforcement, treatment and child welfare workers together. Among the 30 recommendations from the summits, enacting legislation that would call for mandatory treatment for first-time offenders, including a system of rewards for users who successfully reach treatment goals, and consequences for those who do not. But the battle to beat meth in Wisconsin is far from over. More and more of the drug in its purest form is pouring over the border from Mexico, making its way via Minneapolis into our state. Treatment dollars for this uniquely addictive drug are in short supply. Medical experts are just beginning to understand the lasting danger of meth exposure in children. And environmental damage from meth lab waste is costly to clean up. Even Adopt-a-Highway crews picking up litter are now warned to wear protection, because local lab cooks favor roadside dumping of toxic chemicals. Perhaps most ominous of all, the western front of meth is on the move. State narcotics agents are seeing it move east to major Wisconsin cities. Rhoades: If it hits there, I don't know that we'll ever be able to win. Freyberg: Methamphetamine has started to hit our largest cities. In Milwaukee, in the fall of 2005, state and federal agents made a sweep of arrests involving the Latin King's gang. The drug recovered? Methamphetamine. For "In Wisconsin," I'm Frederica Freyberg. 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