Local, state and federal authorities on Thursday waged a proactive strike, costing thousands of dollars, against five methamphetamine labs in Walker and Catoosa counties.

Every time a meth lab is cleaned up, it usually costs from $3,000-$10,000, Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson said. Funding for the hazardous materials crew comes from federal tax dollars.

The meth crackdown, Operation Never Quit, helped about 50 officers bust five meth labs and led to 12 arrests, authorities said.

Tight budgets are forcing law enforcement officials to seek out new ways to combat illegal drugs.

“We’re being innovative,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agent Phillip Price said. “We’re using resources from multiple locations like we did today.”

“We’re going to have to work hard to stay ahead of the dealer,” Catoosa County Sheriff Phil Summers said. “Meth, without a doubt, is an epidemic.”

Price, who leads the regional drug enforcement office, said raids on methamphetamine labs are expensive before officers make the first arrest.

Training and equipment run up a hefty tab for the state, he said. Fighting the meth epidemic is even more difficult as state and local offices continue slashing budgets.

“The economy is down, and this is just an expensive proposition,” Price said.

Every agent qualified to be at the crime scene has had a minimum of $1,000 in educational training, Price said. The protective suits worn by officers entering the meth labs, which qualify as hazardous materials areas, cost about $100 and are disposed of after a single use.

The costs of training and equipment prevent law enforcement from educating all officers, he said. The relatively small number of trained agents further slows progress in the struggle against meth.

Costs of the addiction

Once the investigation and cleanup is completed, the cost shifts to the jails.

“It’s definitely affecting not only law enforcement to have to deal with the problem, but the cost to the taxpayers to maintain these people once their arrested,” Summers said.

About 80 percent of suspects are jailed for drug or alcohol-related crimes, Summers said. The escalation of meth use in Northwest Georgia is driving up jail costs, not only to incarcerate suspects, but also to medicate them.

“Meth-heads” develop long-term health problems, and are characteristically thin, pale and could have sores on their bodies, Wilson said. The drug is a stimulant, often referred to as an “upper,” and “keeps them wound up pretty tight.”

Prescription costs at the Catoosa County jail have increased 350 percent in the past year, or from $1,650 to $5,500 a month, Summers said. Meth addicts sometimes need additional medical attention and dental work.

“It eats the enamel off of their teeth,” he said.

Methamphetamine, which is prepared from a mishmash of chemicals, is addictive and hard on the user’s body, Price said. Narcotics derived from natural sources are less traumatic to the system.

“Methamphetamine is very easy to get addicted to, and once you become addicted to it, it’s all that you crave,” U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agent Ben Scott said.

About 40 percent of cocaine and heroin addicts who dedicate themselves to kicking the habit are successful, Price said. Only about 7 percent of recovering meth addicts successfully escape the drug.

“There is really no cure for the addiction of methamphetamine that I’m aware of, and there is no real known treatment programs that I know of in this area,” Wilson said.

Operation Never Quit

Local, state and federal law enforcement fanned out across Walker and Catoosa counties Thursday in a sweeping raid on methamphetamine labs.

The raid, described by Summers as a “large drug operation,” was part of the GBI’s Operation Never Quit to curb illegal drug manufacturing in Northwest Georgia.

Wilson said authorities, following leads to at least 46 possible locations, split into five teams to scour the two counties, focusing on 36 locations in Walker and 10 in Catoosa.

As the day wore on and tips poured in, officers followed leads to more addresses, Price said.

Every time authorities locate a lab, local firefighters and a federally-funded hazardous materials crew from Chattanooga must be on hand.

At least two firefighters in turnout gear are on hand at each lab cleanup, Walker County Fire and Rescue Assistant Chief Scotty McClure said.

“We stand by and hope nothing ignites,” McClure said.

Discouraging drug use

Wilson and Summers said they felt the mission was a success. Wilson said the operation sent a message to potential users about how the drug can affect their lives.

“We wanted to try to make an impact today, and make a statement (to methamphetamine manufacturers),” Wilson said. “We want to make their life miserable. We want them to know that we’re right around the corner and knocking on their door.”

The mission was not only to jail offenders, but to dissuade potential users from taking the drug, he said.

“I want to reach the people that have never touched it,” he said. “It may be too late to reach those people who have already used it because the addiction is so strong.”

GBI agents from as far away as Macon participated in the operation, Price said. Most of the force was made up of officers from Walker, Catoosa, Paulding, Haralson and Cherokee counties.

Price said he leads the regional drug enforcement office. His team is in the process of moving from Gainesville to Cherokee County because the methamphetamine problem is concentrated in West Georgia.

“The state wasn’t ready for this (meth) problem,” Price said. “There were so many leads in the region, we felt we had to do something proactive. It’s a huge drain on resources, but this is a huge social problem.”

Although judges are handing out tough sentences for the methamphetamine-related crimes, the jails are over-crowded, Price said. Many convicted felons get out of jail on parole long before they’ve served their time in order to make space for the next batch of criminals.

Bond is usually set at $100,000 for meth offenders in Walker County, Wilson said.

Impact on children

When officers on Thursday arrested John Amber Ross, 38, at his Flintstone residence, authorities contacted the Walker Department of Family and Children’s Services, or DFCS, to pick up his children, ages 11 and 16, from school.

“If there is a meth lab in a home, we automatically take the children out of the home,” interim DFCS director Terri Catlett said. “There is no gray area.”

The children are placed with a suitable relative if possible, she said. If nobody is available, the Juvenile Court judge can place the children in family foster care.

Catlett estimated half or more cases at DFCS are drug-related.

“It is very scary about just how prevalent and pervasive the drug use is,” she said.

“The children who are in these labs and exposed to this day in and day out are going to have health consequences as well,” Price said. “We still don’t know exactly what those are, but the children are the unsung victims of methamphetamine.”

Sheriff Wilson said he wanted to emphasize the harm meth labs bring to families and children.

“We’ve got to be an advocate for those children,” Wilson said.

The craving for the drug puts blinders on addicted parents, leading them to neglect children, authorities said.

“It causes parents to make such poor decisions and be so careless with their children,” Catlett said.

“If nothing else, we’re doing this for the children,” Price said. “This is the only way they’re going to get out of that circumstance.”

This year a judge sentenced a Catoosa couple to life in prison after their 15-month-old son, Shelton Hicks, died after his parent’s meth lab exploded.

During Gov. Sonny Perdue’s State of the State address on Jan. 14, the governor mentioned the Hicks case as he pushed for tougher felony child abuse legislation.

“Let me tell you about a little boy named Shelton Hicks,” Perdue said. “His injuries left him blind in both eyes. He suffered extensive damage to his right lung and to his limbs. Four months later, after a long and painful struggle for life, Shelton died.

“His story isn’t an isolated incident,” he said. “Many children have been injured, maimed or killed due to meth lab fires, fumes and explosions.”

Residents may leave a confidential tip with the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force at (706) 638-5570. The task force operates in Walker, Catoosa and Chattooga counties