Meth seizures in Georgia and nearby states increased dramatically from two years ago, according to a regional drug-tracking agency.
The rise comes at a time when officials hoped the public’s heightened awareness of the drug’s dangers was beating back the meth problem.
Methamphetamine is a prescription drug used to treat some disorders, but “crystal meth” is a street drug made in illegal labs by chemically altering over-the-counter drugs, usually cold and allergy medicine containing pseudoephedrine.
Inexpensive, high-quality meth has flooded the market despite laws that moved pseudoephedrine behind the counter. It has flourished despite a lull in production from 2010 to 2011, according to multiple drug agencies, and an increasing awareness of the drug’s dangerous side effects.
“Some drugs you hardly hear about anymore,” said Jack Killorin, director of the Atlanta-Carolinas High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program. “But meth is forever back.”
Law-enforcement officers seized more than 734 kilograms of powder and crystal meth last year, enough meth to fill five bathtubs. That haul represents a 789 percent increase from the 93 kilos of meth seized in 2011, according to an annual review released by the Atlanta-Carolinas drug trafficking program in June.
Most of the meth was seized in Atlanta and North Georgia as it settled in the state or began the journey to large markets such as Washington D.C., Philadelphia and New York, the review said.
The Georgia Meth Project, which bought $4 million of radio ads, television ads and billboards decrying the meth problem from 2010 to 2011, conducted a survey in February to assess how public awareness of the drug had changed.
The survey found that only 11.6 percent of Georgia teens surveyed saw “little or no risk” for using meth once or twice, compared to 35 percent in 2011. However, it’s unclear if that increased awareness has affected the availability of meth or its widespread use.
“We don’t know,” said Jim Langford, the Georgia Prevention Project’s executive director.
Eight metro-Atlanta drug agencies listed meth as either an increasing threat or their greatest drug threat in the report.
Once thought to be the drug of the poor, rural whites, meth no longer has clear demographic ties. Crystal meth, known as “ice,” is on the rise in suburban counties such as DeKalb, Cobb, Cherokee and Forsyth.
“You can’t say it’s just a drug for out in the country anymore,” said Maj. Vince Hester, whose Marietta/Cobb/Smyrna drug task force listed meth as the greatest increasing threat in its area, second only to heroin.
Role of the cartels
Mexican cartels moved meth suspended in liquid form in recent years to fool border officials, a nationwide trend that was noted by the National Methamphetamine & Pharmaceuticals Initiative in 2013.
The meth was transported in juice boxes, or beer bottles or gas tanks, making it difficult for authorities to find.
A 16-year-old Mexican drug trafficker died in November after drinking liquid meth to convince San Diego authorities that it was juice.
By the end of last year, Killorin said, agencies were seeing meth transported from Mexico in powder form as well. The powder could fit easily into hidden compartments and miniature statues.
“With the powder, you can mold it, you can put it in different things to smuggle it,” Killorin said. “With liquid, you’re kind of stuck because it doesn’t compress.”
Drugs including meth and heroin are cooked in bulk in Mexico and then moved to Atlanta, a major distribution hub for the rest of the East Coast, according to the Atlanta-Carolinas drug trafficking program. Drug producers travel across I-20, then carry their cargo via I-85 and I-95 to cities along the east coast.
The meth is then processed from liquid or powder form into a usable product through conversion labs, stealthy operations that have mostly replaced homegrown labs, where meth was often made from scratch. Crystal meth made in Mexico has flooded the market and lowered prices to $16,000 per pound, as opposed to $18,000 in 2011. Local meth producers have decreased due to the low cost.
One conversion lab exploded in February at an apartment on Jameson Pass in Alpharetta, sending a pair of French doors into the streets of the quiet suburb early on a Saturday morning. If it weren’t for the blast, the drug operation may have gone unnoticed by authorities.
That apartment was included in an indictment of 17 Mexican drug operatives that was announced in May. Law officials reported seizing 644 pounds of meth, 37 kilograms of heroin, 27 kilograms of cocaine and $680,000 in drug proceeds through a series of arrests beginning in October 2013.
While some of the seizures happened in rural counties where meth has been a long-standing problem, the arrests also included men from Alpharetta and Sandy Springs.
“We’re seeing [meth use] from all walks of life,” said Joe Chesnut, a drug agent for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. “Within the past 24 months, it’s become the top priority.”
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