Police picked up two teenagers this week for snorting methamphetamine behind a Provo movie theater in a scene authorities say is becoming all too familiar in Utah County.
"At the present time, it appears that methamphetamine is the drug of choice in Utah County. The drug is being used by school-aged kids, in the work force and by the unemployed," said Sgt. Mike Blackhurst, director of the Utah County Narcotics Enforcement Team (NET) based in Pleasant Grove. Blackhurst said the proliferation of the drug is almost more than the eight-man team can handle."It is everywhere," he said. "We're working on trying to slow it down."
NET is receiving five to 10 calls weekly from concerned parents, friends and family members of methamphetamine users, Black- hurst said. Four of every five NET arrests the past six months involved someone using or selling the white or yellowish grainy powder, he said. It is usually sold for $80 to $100 a gram in small plastic bags or glass vials.
About 75 percent of those arrested in the county are adults, but more teenagers are using the drug as well, he said.
"It is just getting out of hand. It is worse than marijuana," Blackhurst said.
Chemicals used to "cook" are readily available in Utah. "A lot of people know how to make it here," Blackurst said. NET and Provo Police have dismantled two full-scale methamphetamine labs in the past three months. Blackhurst said NET recently arrested two Oregon men who came to Utah specifically looking for methamphetamine.
Some distributors have turned to a quicker, easier "cold cook" process in which only one ounce or 28 grams of methamphetamine is manufactured at a time.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, methamphetamines also are coming into Utah County from Mexico where precursor chemicals are easily obtained, Blackhurst said.
The drug is typically inhaled, ingested or smoked, but he said police are finding an increasing number of users injecting it with a syringe.
Some of the noticeable effects of methamphetamine use include appetite and weight loss, mood changes, sleep loss and elevated blood pressure. Blackhurst said heavy users become paranoid and carry guns to protect their drugs.