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Meth kids
2004-05-23
By Nick Trougakos
The Oklahoman
He was a methamphetamine cook in training, living a lifestyle that eventually would land him in a courtroom or a jailhouse, authorities said.
When he was pulled out of his parents' drug-infested home, authorities were shocked to learn he could map out the entire meth-making process, front to back, with accurate diagrams.
They were more shocked to learn he was only 7 years old.
The boy is just one example of a problem Oklahoma authorities are struggling to fight: children exposed to the volatile chemicals, and volatile parents, found inside home-based methamphetamine labs.
"I was frustrated how a 7-year-old knew how to cook dope," Oklahoma County Assistant District Attorney Nathan Dills said. "That was his world that he lived in. He thought that was the way things were supposed to go."
Dills spearheaded the Oklahoma County District Attorney's Drug Endangered Children program in 2002. The goal is to protect children subjected to meth labs and crack down on parents who cause it to happen.
Children weren't getting the medical care they needed after being taken from meth homes, Dills said.
"We discovered that typically law enforcement would have removed that kid and let them go to a relative or a neighbor until the parents could get out of jail," he said. "We determined that's not the way we should be doing things. These kids need to be looked after."
The toxic fumes and chemicals found in a meth lab require law officers to wear protective suits and air masks. Children who are exposed can develop asthma, skin irritation, rotting teeth, internal organ damage and learning disabilities.
"It's one of those things that just frustrates me to no end, that a parent would do that," Dills said.
In 2003, the district attorney's office filed 75 counts of child endangerment against Oklahoma County parents who subjected their children to meth lab conditions. Each charge carries a maximum four-year prison sentence.
Dangerous drug
Methamphetamine production requires a chemical reaction that can include ingredients such as sinus medicine, battery acid, fertilizer, ammonia, sulfur and iodine. The process can be dangerous and the physiological results remarkable.
Addicts crave the prolonged, euphoric highs. The crash that often follows can leave children parentless for days at a time.
Authorities also worry about the accessibility of the chemicals to youngsters.
A 7-year-old Claremore boy suffered burns to his mouth, tongue and esophagus last year when he drank a clear liquid he found in his mother's refrigerator, thinking it was water. It was lye, a corrosive chemical used to make soap. Police said the lye was being used for meth.
More than a dozen surgeries later, there's a question whether the boy's condition will improve enough to allow him to live a normal life. What authorities know is that the risk is there for many more children to suffer similar fates.
"What we know," Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane said, "is that in many drug labs, in a very high percentage of meth labs that we bust, there are children present. These children are essentially exposed to toxic waste dumps." |
Things like this irritate me beyond belief. | |
