BY CHRISTY ARBOSCELLO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
It crept in from the West Coast and across the Midwest. And now the methamphetamine trade is hitting Michigan harder than ever, with secret labs cropping up in growing numbers in suburban neighborhoods and rural woodlands.
In counties including Kalamazoo and Macomb, police have busted 207 labs as of September. The trend has caused law enforcement to ratchet up efforts to combat the highly addictive, potentially deadly stimulant and the people who cook it.
The raids so far this year are just two shy of the 2004 figure -- and more than five times the number from five years ago.
One of those labs, at Lenfesty near Joy Boulevard in Harrison Township, was near the home of 64-year-old Janet Redmond. “No matter where you live, it’s not safe because of these drugs,” Redmond said.
Michigan State Police Detective Lt. Tony Saucedo, the unit commander for the statewide meth team, said, “I could probably be safe to say meth has touched about every community in the state of Michigan. Even though the labs tend to be in the rural areas, we know the use is pretty much everywhere.”
Michigan is trying to tackle meth head on.
Following the lead of about 30 other states, including Indiana and Illinois, state legislators are placing restrictions on the sale of cold remedies highly sought after by meth cooks. The law becomes effective Dec. 15 and requires that medicines containing pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, such as Sudafed, be kept behind the pharmacy counter, within 20 feet of it or monitored by video surveillance. Some stores are already following the guidelines, Saucedo said.
Other strategies in place include having an extra 40 hours of training for police officers to become certified to do lab busts, educating the public to spot suspicious activity and enforcing harsh penalties for repeat offenders. In March 2004, the federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded Michigan a meth prevention grant of $349,942 annually for three years. It is used for education and prevention, among other things.
There are noticeable advantages of staying on top of the epidemic. People are tipping State Police off to suspected labs. Observant security guards at chain retail stores have called to report certain shoppers who buy a slew of merchandise commonly used to make the drug.
Meth’s hazards
Down a dirt path in Macomb Township, where planned luxury homes will eventually clash with dilapidated barns, sits a quaint brick ranch like so many others in suburbia.
The shrubs are a little unkempt, and it seems as though a gust of wind could knock over the shabby mailbox. But, upon passing, nothing seems out of the ordinary.
But this house was a meth lab, authorities said.
“It’s scary to realize this is so close to my house,” said Jennifer Carnaghi, 37.
Meth labs pose specific dangers to their surrounding areas and the people working or living inside them. Meth production often creates toxic waste that could pollute the environment and harm exposed people, and it involves unstable elements that could blow up at any time.
“There are so many repercussions to anyone who is involved in this,” said Kathleen Altman, prevention coordinator at the Oakland County Health Division, Office of Substance Abuse Services. She said children near toxic chemicals in labs not only could suffer brain damage, but also could expose social workers and other people to the toxins.
Hazardous material crews must secure the labs before investigations take place. Labs have been found mostly in rural counties such as Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Allegan, perhaps because neighbors in urban settings are likely to detect odors permeating from them. Although a few labs have been found in metro Detroit, none were discovered in Wayne and Oakland counties from January to the end of September, State Police said.
Fighting the spread
Two meth labs discovered in Macomb County in March break from the trend of most surfacing in remote or rural areas. “Meth is slowly creeping into this district, and we intend to put an end to that. Law enforcement will find those people, whether it’s easy to find them or not,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said.
Six people were arraigned, some as recently as last month, in U.S. District Court in Detroit after State Police and the FBI conducted raids, finding the working labs in Macomb and Harrison townships. Searches also took place in Chesterfield Township, New Haven and St. Clair County’s Algonac, leading to the seizure of meth-making materials, among other things. The suspects had pleas of not guilty entered on their behalf.
Cases like the one in Macomb County are rare, but it’s starting to be more prevalent, Schneider said.
U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy’s Office announced initiatives in early September to penalize meth cooks and repeat offenders. The efforts -- like assigning an attorney in the Controlled Substances Unit to serve as the district’s meth coordinator and participate in training programs -- aim to combat meth distribution and production.
State Police had the benefit of examining meth’s effects on other states before the drug moved to Michigan. Before 1996, most meth was shipped from California and other Western states to the Midwest with outlaw motorcycle gangs, according to a report prepared for several agencies, including the state Department of Community Health.
St. Clair Shores-based Lawyer Timothy Barkovic is representing one of the defendants whose Macomb Township home was searched. Barkovic said prosecutors are trying to establish a criminal tie between the people arrested and the Devils’ Disciples biker gang -- a notion he brushes off.
“It makes it seem to be all the more sinister,” he said. “The government loves to make that connection among methamphetamines and biker gangs. ... It plays into popular belief.”
Schneider declined comment on any correlation between the suspects and bikers. He did say that, by making meth, many of the defendants were “putting other people’s lives at risk, not only their own.”
Detroit Free Press (http://www.freep.com/)