Meth a Quiet, Deadly Threat in Bay State

By LAURA CRIMALDI

While the rest of the nation cooks up crystal meth in crude do- it-yourself labs, the destructive drug is mainly reaching the Bay State from Mexican "superlabs" that crank out 100 to 1,000 pounds of "tina" at a time, drug enforcement officials said.

Fewer than 10 meth labs have been uncovered in Massachusetts since 2003 compared with the 9,402 recorded nationally by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2004 alone, according to DEA statistics.

In November, DEA officials uncovered a drug lab on Congress Street in South Boston that they initially dubbed a sophisticated meth lab, but they later backed away from that claim – saying it was used to make other designer drugs, but not meth.

By contrast, the Bay State poses the largest risk in New England for crystal meth addiction, said DEA Special Agent Tina Murphy, who spoke last week at a crystal meth conference sponsored by the Boston Public Health Commission.

"Meth is the fastest growing drug threat in America today," said Murphy.

A deadly drug scourge among poor whites in rural America, crystal meth is most likely to be used in the Hub by homosexuals living in the South End, Murphy said.

The drug, which comes in a powder form and a rock form called "ice," can be smoked, snorted, orally ingested or injected – a practice known as "slamming." It is made from pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in many over-the-counter cold medicines.

Locally, users shell out $200 to $240 for a gram of the drug, which can be divided into an eighth to a 10th of a gram dose for a 24-hour high.

The number of people seeking substance-abuse treatment who use crystal meth as their primary drug is low compared to heroin and prescription drugs.

In 2004, 113 crystal meth users sought drug treatment – compared to 101 crystal meth users the year before, Murphy said.

"Two years ago, we thought that we’d have a much more serious problem. We still have a serious problem, but it’s not as serious as we thought it would be," said John Auerbach, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission.

The city established the Partnership for Crystal Meth Group to address the problem.

"We’re not out of the woods at all. This is a pernicious drug and we will be grappling with it for years," Auerbach said.

While Mexican meth is usually shipped into Massachusetts through the mail or airports, biker gangs that ignited a meth craze on the West Coast 30 years ago and nicknamed the drug "crank" still play a role locally.

The Cape Cod chapter of the Hells Angels has traveled to Arizona for meth and the Outlaws have occasionally traveled to Florida for it, Murphy said.

"It was terrible in the ’60swith methamphetamines and it’s here again," said Patricia Case, a senior research scientist at Fenway Community Health Center. Her advice: "Act before it is an epidemic, as we have done in Boston."