On the heels of a methamphetamine bust in a retail store parking lot earlier this month, Fort Oglethorpe and county law enforcement officials are bracing for a spreading and costly scourge.

Rick Posey, a Fort Oglethorpe Police Department training officer who teaches informational classes on meth, said the low cost of production will continue to spawn meth manufacturing in the area.

“It’s an epidemic and there’s no stopping it,” he said. “For $100 worth of chemicals they can make $1,000 worth of product in 48 hours.”

Posey said the Southeast Tennessee/ Northwest Georgia area is second only to parts of California in the number of meth seizures in the country.

At the March 22, Fort Oglethorpe City Council meeting, Mayor Judd Burkhart urged the City Council to develop an aggressive stance against meth use and production in the city.

“We’re going to have to go to war with these people,” he said. “We need to do whatever the City Council has to do to get rid of this plague. We need to convict these people.”

Fort Oglethorpe interim Police Chief Red Smith said police have shut down three meth operations in the city in the past four months.

Most recently, Fort Oglethorpe authorities arrested two people on meth charges March 13, after a customer at the Dollar General Store on Battlefield Parkway called police when the suspects bought large quantities of Sudafed. Posey said Sudafed and many cold and allergy medicines contain ephedra, a key ingredient in meth production. When police arrived they discovered additional meth making materials in the suspects’ vehicle.

Smith said Fort Oglethorpe Police made another arrest in December when meth making materials were found in a 1995 Dodge Intrepid in the Hardee’s parking lot on Battlefield Parkway.

“They were not actually cooking meth (at the time of the arrests),” he said. “ But it is a common thing. They’ll make meth just about anywhere they can start cooking.”

He said addicts commonly set up meth labs in vehicles, motel rooms and rental property. The police chief said not only do meth labs pose a health threat to unsuspecting neighbors, but clean up is expensive and some properties are even condemned after meth production.

Smith said people may be surprised by the number of common household items used to make meth, such as distilled water, Drano, lye, matches, kitty litter, rock salt, paint thinners and butane.

“They get these chemicals in their system and they won’t come out,” he said. “Once they get on this stuff they disregard everything in their life. Meth is their priority. It’s terrible in situations where little kids in the house are having to breathe fumes.”

In 2001, 15-month-old Shelton Hicks died from injuries he sustained when a batch of meth his father, Chris Hicks, was cooking exploded, burning down their Lakeview home. The elder Hicks and his common law wife, Suzette Calloway, were both sentenced in February to life in prison for felony murder.

Posey said in December, officers stepped into a dangerous situation when they stormed an apartment on Van Cleve Street where the suspect was in the process of cooking meth. He said the suspect had Coleman camping fuel, another meth ingredient, cooking in the oven at 200 degrees.

Camping fuel is combustible at 180 degrees, Posey said. The same suspects who were arrested in the Van Cleve raid had moved to Fort Oglethorpe from LaFayette where a meth fire burned down the trailer they were living in.

Claws of addiction

Catoosa County Sheriff Phil Summers said methamphetamine manufacture and usage constitutes the number one drug-related crime in the county. The after-effects of meth withdrawal on county inmates make it extremely costly to the county, he said.

Summers said taxpayers are forced to pay for the medical care of inmates as a result of the devastating health effects of the drug. The average inmate arrested for meth use cannot make bond and spends an average of six months in jail, he said. The average expense for prescription drugs administered at the Catoosa County Detention Center has increased from $1,600 per month last year to $5,500 per month this year, largely due to various health issues such as kidney, lung and dental problems resulting from meth use.

“We kind of compare it to the AIDS epidemic we’ve been dealing with,” he said. “It hasn’t peaked yet, and we don’t know what the future holds for us in dealing with this meth problem.”

Posey said the highly addictive drug makes users forget about taking care of themselves.

“When you take it you don’t want to eat, you don’t want to brush your teeth or shower,” he said.

He said the lack of hygiene and the toxic chemicals that build up in the body quickly rots teeth and leads to more serious health problems. He said many meth addicts look years older than they actually are.

Posey said another sign of a meth user is what’s known as meth bugs, which are red scratches on the face.

“They find a spot on their face where they feel like something’s crawling on it and they will scratch it but once it starts bleeding the spot moves somewhere else,” he said.

Signs of a meth lab

Any single activity may or may not be sole proof that drug dealing or methamphetamine manufacturing is occurring. However, a combination of the following may be reason for concern:

- Frequent visitors at all times of the day or night

- Activity at the house is usually at odd hours or late at night

- Occupants appear unemployed, yet seem to have plenty of money and pay bills with cash

- Occupants are unfriendly, appear secretive about activities

- Occupants watch cars suspiciously when they pass by

- Occupants display a paranoid or odd behavior

- Extensive security at the home or signs that indicate “Private Property” or “Beware of Dog,” fences, large shrubs, bushes and trees

- Windows blackened or curtains always drawn

- Occupants go outside the house to smoke cigarettes

- Chemical odors coming from house, garbage or exterior buildings

- Garbage contains numerous chemical bottles and containers

- Coffee filters, bed sheets or other material stained from filtering red phosphorus or other chemicals

- Occupant sets garbage for pick up in neighbor’s collection area

- Evidence of chemical or waste dumping (i.e. burn pits or “dead spots” in the yard)

Posey said the suspect arrested at Hardee’s in December was a 44-year-old brick mason who said he took the drug to keep up with younger workers.

He said meth users take the drug for the energy high and many do not sleep for 3-5 days. One suspect arrested by Fort Oglethorpe Police hadn’t slept in 19 days.

“When you’re on it and addicted, the only thing you want to do is figure out where the next meth is going to come from,” Posey said. “It’s just such a feel-good euphoria you don’t care about anything.”

Another lure of meth is its bargain price.

Posey said one gram of cocaine and one gram of meth both cost about $100 but the average from one gram of meth lasts about eight hours — six to seven times longer than cocaine.

Sue Mason, a social worker for Catoosa County Schools, said visibility of meth effects in county schools have been minimal, but teachers and faculty are attending workshops and becoming better educated about the drug in preparation for increasing meth problems.

“I think what we are seeing is families disrupted,” she said. “We have had situations in the county where parents were arrested and charged with manufacturing. The children in the home were sent to live with relatives or placed in the state’s custody.”

Mason said when she first started as a social worker in the Catoosa school system in the 1990s, the main problem affecting families was alcohol, then she began to see more cocaine and heroin abuse. Mason said she expects meth to soon play a much larger role in child neglect.

“I think now we’re going to see a coming wave,” she said. “I think it’s like any other drug; it just causes a total complete lack of concern and selfishness on the adult’s part.”

Cleaning a toxic mess

Meth is now known by dozens of names. A few of the most common include crystal meth, crank, speed, ice, glass, quartz, dirty, L.A. and zip.

The drug first came into use in the early 1900s when German and Russian soldiers gave a form of meth to their troops to allow them to fight longer, Posey said, adding Japanese kamikaze pilots also utilized the drug to help overcome fear and rational thought.

According to a Fort Oglethorpe Police Department meth training guide, for every pound of meth created five to six pounds of toxic waste is produced.

Posey said because of the caustic fumes and combustibility of the chemicals involved in meth manufacture, cleaning up a meth operation requires special hazardous material training and gear.

Lt. Ira Taylor is the only Fort Oglethorpe officer certified in meth cleanup. For large operations the department utilizes the Southeast Tennessee Meth Task Force based in Chattanooga.

Posey said the Task Force charges $2,000 just to come to a meth site and the total price of cleanup depending on the size ranges between $3,100 and $150,000.

A movement is under way by area law enforcement organizations to create a federally funded regional task force to fight and cleanup meth, which will include Drug Enforcement Agency personnel based out of Rome, Ga., he said.

What can you do?

There are actions that you as a private citizen can take to ensure methamphetamine manufacturing is not occurring in your neighborhood. Drug dealers and methamphetamine manufacturers have common habits, which are easily observed. Report your concerns to your local police or sheriff’s department immediately. Do not confront your neighbor with your suspicions or enter a suspected lab