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Congressional subcommittee hearing in Lenoir explores methamphetamine problem

By MICAH HENRY, Taylorsville Times

Methamphetamine use, traffic, and manufacture were the main topics discussed at a recent meeting of the U.S. House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources held in Lenoir on Tuesday, April 11.

Many law enforcement personnel were in attendance, in addition to the Subcommittee members: Fifth District Representative Virginia Foxx, Tenth District Rep. Patrick McHenry, and Chairman Rep. Mark Souder, of Indiana.

The event, held at the Caldwell County Government Office Building, had expert witness testimony by Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge John Emerson of the Charlotte District Office; Jay Gaither, District Attorney, 25th Judicial District; Van Shaw, Special Agent, State Bureau of Investigation, Clandestine Labs Response Program; Rutherford County Sheriff Phillip Byers; Caldwell County Sheriff Gary Clark; and Ms. Lynne Vasquez, mother of a convicted meth dealer and abuser, who is raising his children.

“Meth is one of the most powerful and dangerous drugs available, and it is also one of the easiest to make. It is perhaps best described as a “perfect storm” – a cheap, easy-to-make drug with devastating health and environmental consequences, consuming tremendous law enforcement and other public resources, that is extremely addictive and difficult to treat,” said Rep. Souder. “If we fail to get control of it, meth will wreak havoc in our communities for generations to come.”

He noted that the Lenoir hearing was the twelfth for the Subcommittee since 2001, all with the aim of identifying the meth trafficking and abuse problems in the local areas. The other hearings were held in such states as Hawaii, Indiana, Oregon, and Minnesota.

Souder pointed out that meth comes from two places: “superlabs,” usually found in California but now more common in Mexico, and small, local labs, called clandestine or “mom-n-pop” labs, in which individuals gather the ingredients and make the drug themselves.
The increasing prevalence of “mom-n-pop” meth labs has resulted in labs and meth paraphernalia found in homes, motel rooms, trunks of cars--or any available location--sometimes with children present.

These labs are also dangerous because they produce toxic by-products during the manufacturing process, posing a risk to residents nearby from deadly fumes, corrosive liquids, or explosive gases.

“The total amount of meth actually supplied by these labs is relatively small; however, the environmental damage and health hazard they create (in the form of toxic chemical pollution and chemical fires) make them a serious problem for local communities, particularly the state and local law enforcement agencies forced to uncover and clean them up,” Souder said.

Some meth is made with pseudoephedrine cold medicines, and lawmakers in North Carolina and the U.S. Congress have acted to keep sales of these medicines restricted in recent months by limiting the purchase of medicines in quantity. Often, meth addicts are so intent on getting a fix that they go from store to store to buy enough supplies and bypass the purchasing limit that is in effect in North Carolina. Alternatively, the meth cooks or their associates simply shoplift the necessary items.

Rep. Virginia Foxx learned of a gruesome encounter with meth labs when she spoke to Darien South, volunteer fireman from Watauga County. South had responded to a fire, not knowing a meth lab was involved, and the volatile mixture exploded, burning him severely.

“He was just doing his job, but now he’ll suffer for the rest of his life,” Foxx stated. “The people who are responsible for the meth lab will only spend two years in prison. We owe our law enforcement officials more than this.”

The committee also addressed the need for drug prevention programs and how to get users to stop taking meth. However, addicts find the drug very difficult to quit.

Caldwell County Sheriff Gary Clark addressed the proximity of meth labs to children, saying “The drug also poses a serious threat to children, as meth lab seizures in our county have routinely occurred at sites where children live or play. One such example in our county was in fact a daycare for pre-school children.”

“Meth attacks and breaks down all social barriers,” Clark added. “We have found in Caldwell County that there is a direct correlation to meth and increases in robberies, burglaries, domestic violence, assaults, identity thefts, and child neglect.”

He noted Caldwell’s number one obstacle in fighting meth is lack of manpower.

Sheriff Byers, of Rutherford County praised the recent legislation entitled Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 which restricts the sale of medicines containing pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine (PPA) to make meth by placing the ingredients behind the counter and limiting how much one person can buy. Also, the law bolsters training for local and state law enforcement and calls for monitoring the largest exporting and importing countries of pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and PPA, among other provisions.

This law, coupled with the North Carolina Methamphetamine Lab Prevention Act of 2005, has helped reduce the number of meth labs found in the state, Byers related.

“During the month of March, 2006, 14 labs were discovered in North Carolina compared to 40 in March of 2005 and 33 labs in March of 2004,” Byers explained.

This reduction in numbers should not lead to a sense of security, though, according to Byers.

“In Rutherford County, we have fewer meth labs but increased methamphetamine trafficking and addiction. The majority of methamphetamine (ice) that we seize today is smuggled into this country from Mexico. The methamphetamine (ice) that comes from ‘Mexican Super Labs’ is very potent and leads our users to a new level of addiction,” he stated.

North Carolina SBI Asst. Special Agent-in-Charge Van Shaw also called for increased drug traffic control through a Methamphetamine Trafficking Task Force to squelch meth being brought into western North Carolina. This will involve the SBI working with the DEA and N.C. Dept. of Justice.

Jay Gaither, District Attorney for the 25th District, including Caldwell County, spoke of the strain on the legal system which meth-related arrests have produced.

He noted that some meth “cooks” have been arrested, but because of the backlog of forensic evidence processing by the state, these offenders are released and their cases continued until all the evidence is analyzed for the trial. Lab results routinely take nine to twelve months to come back, Gaither related. In some cases, an offender may be arrested for another two or three meth labs by the time the first case comes to trial.

“North Carolina should not be taking what I feel are the relatively weak steps we are taking,” said Gaither.

Lynne Starr-Vasquez presented irrefutable proof of the horrors of methamphetamine use when she told the panel the story of her son, Chad Coggins, and his addiction, physical deterioration, alienation from his family, arrest, and incarceration.

Locally, Alexander County Sheriff Hayden Bentley and Det. Chad Pennell attended the Lenoir meeting.

Of the methamphetamine issue, Bentley noted that 90 percent of meth in the area is shipped in from Mexico. He said all law enforcement agencies are working with the federal task force in different locations with federal authorities. From the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office, Det. Pennell is assigned to the federal task force part-time, according to Bentley.

“It needs serious attention because it’s one of the fastest growing drugs in this area. We’re doing everything we can to combat this problem,” Bentley added.