Editor’s note: This is the first part in an ongoing series highlighting methamphetamine use in Brookings County.

BROOKINGS – Methamphetamine is a dangerous drug. With toxic ingredients, it’s extremely difficult to kick and use of it is escalating in Brookings County, said local law enforcement.

Three of them sat down with The Register to explain why it’s so addicting.

Dave Erickson is the assistant police chief with the Brookings Police Department. Bart Sweebe is jail administrator. Charles Umberger is an investigator with the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office.

How it starts

To understand meth addiction, you must understand how an addict gets started.

“Everybody that’s in treatment, everybody that’s been arrested, that’s been interviewed, using or possessing a controlled substance will tell you that they started with marijuana. Nobody ever (says), ‘Oh, I’m gonna take meth today,’ not having tried any other drug before,” Erickson said.

“I think (marijuana) is dangerous because of the physiological effects it has on the brain over time,” he said. “It is a depressant just like alcohol is and can affect your motor skills. You can be arrested for DUI-marijuana just as easy as you could be for drinking too much and driving.”

Erickson said law enforcement officials whole-heartedly believe that marijuana is a gateway drug to harder drugs.

“After a while, people aren’t happy with that feeling they’re getting from marijuana and they want something more,” Sweebe said. “Then they’re talking to their buddies, ‘What else works, the marijuana just ain’t getting it anymore.’ … And eventually, that can lead into the harder drugs.”

One of the hardest, in terms of kicking the habit, is meth.

“They try it once and you can tell people are hooked,” Sweebe said.

Money talks

The officers said one reason meth is attractive to people is it doesn’t cost as much as other drugs, initially.

“It’s still expensive,” Erickson said. “It depends on the individual and how bad of a habit they have, how much the addiction requires them to have.”

“Drugs are usually sold by weight,” Umberger said. “That weight has a price attached to it.”

Umberger said an “eight ball” or eighth of an ounce, costs $60-$80.

“That can get expensive in a week,” he said. “Everybody’s different; a small girl may not need as much as a larger man.”

As with all drugs, addicts need more and more the longer they’re addicted, and with volume comes a higher price.

All that money has to come from somewhere, and some addicts will do anything to get their next fix.

“Anything is possible, and it doesn’t just mean methamphetamine; anybody that’s addicted to any of the controlled substances can be prone to all sorts of crimes. We’ve seen armed robbery here in Brookings County within the last year as a result of drugs. Assaults, thefts, those are gonna be your main ones,” Erickson said.

“They’ve got to be able to buy the drugs, and that’s an easy way to get it, is by going out and pulling thefts and turning those things into money,” Sweebe said.

Addictive danger

Erickson said the chemical make-up of meth is basically poison.

The user can never be sure what they’re getting, either.

“There’s different cooking methods on methamphetamine, depending on where (it’s being made) and who’s making it,” Umberger said.

“In methamphetamine, one of the base ingredients is amphetamine, that you get from pseudoephedrine (like in Sudafed),” he said. “Sometimes anhydrous ammonia (which) is a pretty dangerous chemical too; it’s used in ag applications,” he said.

In farming, anhydrous ammonia is used as a nitrogen fertilizer. In lower exposure, it can cause coughing and choking. High levels can cause death from a swollen throat or from chemical burns to the lungs, according to the North Dakota Department of Health. For more information, visit www.ndhealth.gov/epr/resources/anhydrous.htm online.

Other chemicals Umberger said are in methamphetamine include Drano, sulphur (sometimes from match heads) and sulphuric acid.

“Acetone, that’s what’s in your nail polish remover. Lithium from car batteries; that’s a dangerous one, pretty caustic chemical. Toluene (from) brake fluid,” he ran down the list.

All those poisons have an effect on the human body, which they see when the addicts return to the jail again and again, the trio said.

“The sheer damage it does to your body,” Erickson said.

“And how quickly it does it,” Umberger said.

“We can see it in the people, too,” Sweebe said. “Their skin, their weight; they’re losing a lot of weight. Their teeth rot. It’s a terrible process.”

“Methamphetamine is a stimulant,” Erickson said, “so if somebody’s under the influence, they can’t sit still, sweating, rapid eye movements. They can stay up for an abnormal amount of time.”

“After they come down off it, they can sleep for an abnormal length of time,” Sweebe said.

Other symptoms they listed were temper, paranoia and not eating.

How to help

“One of the main reasons (meth is dangerous) is the addictive quality of methamphetamine. It’s very difficult for someone who begins using methamphetamine to get off of it,” Erickson said.

A good program to get off methamphetamine is long term, like 18 months, he said.

The few treatment centers that handle meth are all full, they said. Plus, it’s expensive.

“The people they’re gonna take in first, they’ve got insurance or the money to put themselves into the treatment center. If you don’t have money and you don’t have insurance, you’re on a back list somewhere,” Sweebe said.

If not able to get into a treatment center, many people don’t get help and their addiction gets worse.

Knowing the symptoms is important to get a handle on the problem.

“It is a community problem, and it isn’t all just up to law enforcement to solve,” Erickson said. “It does start in the home with parents and children.”

“Parents should get involved with their kids, know what’s going on with them,” Umberger said.

“It can affect any family. People shouldn’t think, it’s not gonna happen to my family,” Sweebe said. “It doesn’t just affect that one person, it involves their family, their friends, it’s everybody.”

If anybody has information about users, dealers or anything pertaining to drugs, you can report it to Crimestoppers anonymously, Erickson said.

To help stop meth, contact the Brookings Police at 605-692-2113; the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office at 605-696-8300; or contact Crimestoppers anonymously by visiting www.brookingsareacrimestoppers.com or by calling 605-692-STOP (7867).

Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.