Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Meth's toll: Destroying our community one life at a time
ERIC SAGARA and HEIDI ROWLEY
Tucson Citizen
First of three parts
Whether you use methamphetamine or not, you likely have been or will be a victim of the drug, police and community activists say.
Meth leads to more crime than any other drug Tucson police Capt. David Neri has seen in his nearly 25 years in law enforcement, he said. That includes when heroin and crack cocaine made their marks in the 1980s and 1990s.
Neri, head of the multiagency Counter Narcotics Alliance, has made eliminating meth the top priority of the alliance, which is made up of local, state and federal law enforcement officers. But he emphasizes the legal system alone is not capable of handling the problem.
"I can overwhelm (the courts) in 30 days if I focus all my resources on that one issue," Neri said.
Meth users come from all socio-economic backgrounds, with no definite profile, though local authorities say they are seeing increased use among minorities and teenagers.
The highly addictive stimulant has been the headliner drug in several high-profile crimes in the past six months:
• Last week, police arrested two men and charged them with robbing a Tucson woman and her 14-year-old daughter. One of the men, Walter T. Ward, is accused of sexually assaulting the girl. He possessed meth when he was arrested, police say.
• In August, a mentally disturbed man was high on meth when he fled sheriff's Deputy Timothy Graham, 30. Graham caught up to Aaron Swyers, 23, in a West Ajo Way median. The two and cab driver Dawud Abusida, 56, who stopped to help the deputy, died when they fell in front of a passing pickup truck.
• In July, federal agents raided what they called southern Arizona's first superlab, capable of making 10 pounds of meth in 24 hours, in Arivaca.
Meth use has grown here as knowledge of how to make it spread, in part through the Internet, and Mexican drug cartels developed superlabs.
Compounding the threat, police, social service and health care officials say, is that meth users are more prone to commit violent crimes and that they and their children can have serious short- and long-term mental and physical problems.
A meth addict may stay awake for days, often committing crimes to get more meth to sustain his high.
The severity of the meth problem elsewhere, most notably in the Midwest, has led to federal tax dollars being directed to combat it. Local authorities have sought some of those funds for anti-meth efforts, including education.
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