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ALLEGAN, Mich. (June 18, 2014) — It’s a drug that law enforcement battles throughout west Michigan daily, and now it’s popping up in a new form.
Normally crystal is the form you find meth, but now it’s coming as a liquid. It’s a trend popping up out west and down south that detectives want to stay ahead of.
Users and dealers are disguising it as a beverage in some cases, hiding it in pop bottles and even laundry detergent.
It’s an old tactic, but still hard to police.
The Allegan County Sheriff’s Department said that 40 percent of the inmates at their jail are locked up on meth related charges. Allegan law enforcement said that it spends as much as 90 percent of their time investigating meth cases.
Sergeant Eric Speese with the Allegan County Sheriff’s Department said that criminals have caught on that budget cuts in law enforcement have opened a window of opportunity to increase home-grown production of methamphetamine, and that crooks are turning to an old method of disguising the narcotic as a liquid.
As a liquid, the drug is easy to transport.
“We’ve seen people smuggle in meth in their cars in various different containers in their cars, including their windshield wiper fluid container. They will empty it all out and you can put your liquid meth in there,” said Speese.
Speese said that most meth users in Allegan are making it themselves, and are seeking pseudo ephedrine from area pharmacies.
“Our surveillance people at times will be sitting by pharmacies and you know they think they recognize someone that goes into the store. They can have the pseudo ephedrine log pulled up,” said Speese.
Closely monitoring who is buying what and where they might take it, Speese said that last year Allegan County had the second most meth busts in the state. Kalamazoo County ranked number one.
“We’ve dealt with many people who have burned themselves up. If you go down to Kalamazoo’s burn ward, they will say the majority of their people are in there for meth lab fires,” said Speese.
Speese said that after years of cracking down on meth, nothing surprises him about the lengths users will go to get their high. This means often times sacrificing the well-being of the drug’s most innocent victims.
“You’ll have trash on the floors, small children still in diapers that haven’t had a diaper change in several days, kids that haven’t eaten in several days,” said Speese.
Law enforcement said that making meth in Allegan County isn’t an elaborate set-up. Speese said that users typically make it in a two-liter bottle, and that it is something that can even be done inside a car. The waste is often times dumped in public places.
Speese said that he’s seen first-hand how the toxic waste can become a hazard to children who live in the area, when a child found waste and brought it to him.
“He said, ‘Oh I found these cool bottles down by the river.’ Again that was one of those, had to call the parents and said, ‘You probably have to take your kid to the emergency room to make sure his lungs weren’t affected by this,'” said Speese.
Speese said that the best way to combat methamphetamine in Michigan would be to make psuedo ephedrine illegal to buy without a prescription. He said that is something that became law in both Washington in Oregon in recent years, which he said has decreased their meth use by 90 percent.
