USA: LAW OFFICERS IN HAMILTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE TRY TO STEM THE USE OF THE ILLEGAL DRUG METHAMPHETAMINE.

Record ID: 230241

  • Title: USA: LAW OFFICERS IN HAMILTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE TRY TO STEM THE USE OF THE ILLEGAL DRUG METHAMPHETAMINE.
  • Date: 22nd March 2005
  • Summary: (L!1) CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SCENES) VARIOUS: POLICE OFFICERS OF THE HAMILTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE SHERIFF OFFICE AND THE SOUTHEAST TENNESSEE METHAMPHETAMINE TASK FORCE, EXECUTING A SEARCH WARRANT, AND STORMING THE DOOR OF A SUSPECTED METHAMPHETAMINE HOUSE / SOUND OF GUNFIRE AS POLICE SHOOT AN ROTWEILER WHICH HAD ATTACKED AS THEY ENTERED THE HOUSE VARIOUS: SUSPECT SCREAMING AS HE IS SUBDUED / POLICE OFFICER SHOUTING TO THE SUSPECT: "Talk to me!" MV: LIEUTENANT TOMMY FARMER OF THE HAMILTON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE HOLDING SUSPECT ON FLOOR OF THE HOUSE AND SAYING: "Is there any chemicals or any hazards? Is there a meth lab at this residence?" VARIOUS: POLICE, DRESSED IN HAZARDOUS MATERIAL PROTECTIVE SUITS, REMOVING FROM THE HOUSE VARIOUS COMPONENTS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METHAMPHETAMINE. CU: POLICE COUNTING USED PACKETS OF EPHEDRINE OR PSEUDO-EPHEDRINE COLD AND ALLERGY MEDICINE WHICH HAD BEEN USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METHAMPHETAMINE. PAN: DISPLAY OF VARIOUS COMMON HOUSEHOLD CHEMICAL PRODUCTS, SUCH AS EPHEDRINE, MURIATRIC ACID, DRAIN CLEANER, LYE, IODINE, COFFEE FILTERS AND MATCHBOOKS, WHICH ARE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METHAMPHETAMINE MV: (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIEUTENANT TOMMY FARMER OF THE NARCOTICS DIVISION OF THE HAMILTON COUNTY TENNESSEE SHERIFF'S SAYING: "Most people are going to recognize it as the cold and allergy medication. It is the active ingredient in the cold and allergy medications that they are going to take for the typical cold." VARIOUS: OPERATIONS VEHICLE OF THE METHAMPHETAMINE TASK FORCE WITH SKULL AND BONES LOGO / SUSPECTS SEATED ON THE PAVEMENT OUTSIDE THE HOME WHICH WAS RAIDED BY POLICE. SCU: SUSPECT BEING QUESTIONED BY POLICE OFFICER AND SAYING HE USED METHAMPHETAMINE "EVERY SO OFTEN." (DAY SCENES) LV: PANORAMIC VIEW OF CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE. (L!1)ALTAMONT, GRUNDY COUNTY, TENNESSEE, UNITED STATES LV/PAN: OF RURAL TOWN WEST OF CHATTANOOGA. W: UNKNOWN SHACK. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) RESIDENT, RESPONDING TO A REPORTER'S QUESTION ON THE EFFECT OF METHAMPHETAMINE IN THE SMALL TOWN: "It's destroying everyone's family. I have two children. I mean, we can't go anywhere because we don't know when they're 'geeking.' We don't know when they're stealing. They were decent people to begin with, and then they turn out to be nothing. They have lost everything -- their homes, their wives, their kids, and then they want to know why. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) GARRICK NUNLEY, A TEENAGED RESIDENT, SAYING: "It's like my family, it's going to kill them, and I hate to see that happen. (Reporter: Who in your family) Like my stepdad, and stuff like that." SCU: SOUNDBITE (English) TAMMY GIPSON, A RESIDENT, SAYING: "But with that drug, you do not have a life. And it will fool you from the moment you do it. If it takes two years, if it takes 10 years -- it does not matter how long it takes. It will take everything from you, your dignity, your pride, and everything else. And whomever I am speaking to out there, I hope they are listening to me and I am so serious because I have been there, done that. For six years, I did that drug." (L!1)CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SCENES) VARIOUS: POLICE ROLLING A SUSPECT INTO A SEATED POSITION BY THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY / SUSPECT'S VEHICLE SMASHED INTO SIDE OF POLICE OFFICER VEHICLE AFTER THE SUSPECT RAMMED THE POLICE CAR IN ORDER TO EVADE ARREST / SUSPECT LOOKING DAZED. (2 SHOTS) MV: SOUNDBITE (English) LIEUTENANT TOMMY FARMER LEANING OVER THE SUSPECT AND ADDRESSING HIM: "I would appreciate it if you would not ram my car. Do you understand! What do you think all of these blue lights are? Here for our health? Do you think that siren is for your amusement! I don't think so! Is it the meth in your mind!" TRACK: POLICE CAR BLARING SIREN. WS: LIEUTENANT TOMMY FARMER RECOVERING A BAG OF METHAMPHETAMINE WHICH THE HAD BEEN TOSSED OUTSIDE THE VEHICLE OF THE SUSPECTS WHO RAMMED THE POLICE CAR. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIEUTENANT TOMMY FARMER EXAMINING AND EVALUATING THE RECOVERED BAG OF METHAMPHETAMINE: "Probably two ounces, two and a half ounces, three ounces or better, of meth. Might even weigh out more. Pretty heavy. A lot of chunks in here. Real fresh dope. Real strong. Still the chemical--, there is no question this is, this is homemade, this is Tennessee homemade dope. This is not something that came from--, imported from Mexico or anywhere. It's good dope." SCU: LIEUTENANT TOMMY FARMER AND OTHER NARCOTICS OFFICERS QUESTIONING A SUSPECT WHOM THEY HAD BEEN SURVEILLING SINCE EARLIER THAT MORNING. / CU: SUSPECT. (2 SHOTS) SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOMMY FARMER ASKING THE SUSPECT WHETHER HE WAS WILLING TO GIVE UP THE METHAMPHETAMINE HABIT: "I offer you--, I offer you a chance. I offer you that opportunity. You have to make that decision." SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) AARON SULLIVAN, A RECOVERING ADDICT WHO SPENT TIME IN PRISON ON METHAMPHETAMINE CHARGES AND IS NOW IN A TREATMENT PROGRAM: "By using this drug, I walked away from my family and that relationship will probably never be as strong as it was. My children lost their father. I didn't care anymore. My morals changed. I am rebuilding that today, but it is not easy." SCU: YOUNG SUSPECT BEING DETAINED AND QUESTIONED BY LIEUTENANT TOMMY FARMER. LAS: (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIEUTENANT TOMMY FARMER SPEAKING WITH DETAINED YOUTH: "What are you doing with that half-ounce of dope? Who did you cook off with?" TRACK: PRISONER KENNY EASTERLY WALKING IN CORRIDOR OF THE HAMILTON COUNTY JAIL WHERE HE IS AWAITING TRIAL ON METHAMPHETAMINE CHARGES SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRISONER KENNY EASTERLY SAYING: "I tried started doing just a little bit, you know, a little bit led to a little bit more, a little bit more, you know. And, like is said, you know, next think I know I was just wide open, doing it everyday. (Reporter: Who do you blame for that?) I can't nobody but myself." MV/CU: OF DOOR OF JAIL CELL CLOSING WITH A LOUD CLANG. (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 6th April 2005 13:00
  • Keywords: drugs, METHAMPHETAMINE, crystal meth
  • Location: CHATTANOOGA AND ALTAMONT, TENNESSEE, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA598FNUHCVO1BE9C1DCIC4PRAN
  • Story Text: Methamphetamine is becoming a growing drug problem in the U.S. -- especially in rural America.
    As it has been for decades, the leading problem of illicit drug abuse in America remains the use of cocaine and marijuana, but more and more, Americans, especially those in rural areas, are turning to the use of methamphetamine.
    Traditionally, methamphetamine has been imported to the United States from so-called super-laboratories in Mexico, or distributed domestically by Mexican gangs operating in California. Now, in what police and drug enforcement agencies are describing as an epidemic, the production of methamphetamine is taking root in thousands of small-scale laboratories across the middle of America. In Tennessee, the "meth" problem has overwhelmed the resources of law enforcement and social service agencies stretching from Knoxville in the east to Chattanooga in the south. The Tennessee agencies have formed a Methamphetamine Task Force in order that they might cope -- but their efforts seem ever more like a losing battle. Police in Tennessee seized 1,355 "meth labs" in 2004, second only to Missouri, which busted nearly twice as many.
    Each laboratory busted represents dozens of hours of police work.
    Unlike, say, the straightforward arrest of a marijuana suspect, the bust of a meth cook house requires an elaborate process of environmental cleanup. Every gram of cooked methamphetamine produced several dozen litres of waste acids and other poisons. Cooks, who seldom have an acute environmental sense, usually dump the waste on the ground, where it seeps into the water table.
    Methamphetamine, or crank, is produced by mixing and siphoning a witches brew of ephedrine, the main ingredient of cold and allergy medicines, and a number of other household chemicals such as iodine, lye and muriatic acid.
    The end product is a white powder -- highly addictive and seemingly defiant of rehabilitation.
    The small city Chattanooga, and its surrounding counties, is ground zero of the methamphetamine epidemic in Tennessee, and the problems there are reflective of those throughout the United States. Lieutenant Tommy Farmer of the Hamilton County Sheriff's office leads a small squad of narcotics officers. On any given night, Farmer and his officers play the role of cop and preacher -- busting a dizzying sequence of meth producers, the "cooks," and the users, the "geekers" -- and offering each of an opportunity for a life restored, a life away from methamphetamine.
    Methamphetamine produces a rush of euphoria, followed invariably by a "crash" lasting a day or more.
    For cooks, part of the allure of the methamphetamine is that at cost of a few hundred dollars one can purchase a few dozen packets of ephedrine, a armful of iodine, and the other precursor chemicals, and produce enough drug to sell at a sizable profit. Unlike cocaine, which requires a complicated system of suppliers, the meth cook can manufacture his own drug.
    Altamont, west of Chattanooga, is a small hill town with a population of several hundred. It is striking that as one walks in the town square, every passerby without exception is able to speak of an experience with methamphetamine -- either personally as a user, or as a family member or friend of a user. The tragic story in Altamount is played out throughout eastern Tennessee, as the scourge of methamphetamine, month after month, claims new victims.
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