Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Think you have some information that might help the local cops bust a drug operation? Call the police.
That’s one of the messages delivered during a drug awareness forum March 6 at Sweet Home High School.
Detectives from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office and Sweet Home Police Department talked about the drug problem in the area during the forum, which was hosted by Linn County Neighborhood Watch.
Detectives who participated included Kevin Greene, Dave Snippen and Michelle Leggate from LCSO and Jeff Lynn and Cyndi Pichardo from SHPD. More than 50 area residents attended the forum.
“Basically, the main thing we do is gather intelligence and prioritize everything we get,” Snippen said. “Unfortunately, we can’t handle everything we get. Our main focus is going to be kids. When kids are involved, that’s our number one focus.”
Information from citizens may not result in drug houses being shut down immediately, detectives said. But because they have to build a case before they can eventually put the houses out of business, the more information, the better. It all helps.
Snippen described the kind of work narcotics detectives do, including dealing with informants, making drug buys using informants and undercover officers, assisting other agencies and paperwork. He also described three major drug problems in Linn County.
Marijuana and methamphetamines remain the biggest problem in Linn County, though use of heroin, which is not common in Linn County yet, is on the rise, Snippen said.
Marijuana
Enforcement against illegal marijuana use has been complicated by recent laws, Snippen said, but newer laws are helping. For example, officers can now check on the legitimacy of a medical marijuana card any time of the day, all week long.
“It was very, very difficult to prosecute,” before laws have been clarified, Snippen said.
People who can legally have marijuana cannot receive “consideration” for giving marijuana to another person, Snippen said. Those with cards are allowed to possess and grow marijuana, up to six mature plants and 18 immature plants. A mature plant on average probably produces $1,000 to $1,500 worth of marijuana. If grown to perfection, it could produce up to $2,000 worth.
The marijuana also must be away from the public view, Snippen said.
Theft from legal medical marijuana cardholders has become an issue, he said. “At the same time, you can get a prescription (drug) to do the exact same thing marijuana does.”
Theft is a risk medical marijuana card holders take, Snippen said.
Marijuana is easily the number-one drug choice in the area, he said. It’s cheap and easy to make. It is abundant and easily overlooked. It is most commonly smoked, rolled or in a pipe or bong. It also can be eaten or brewed with a drink, he said.
Short-term effects can include sleepiness, reduced ability to perform tasks requiring concentration, reduced ability to keep track of things, bloodshot eyes, dry mouth and throat, reduced comprehension, impaired perception, impairment of memory, impairment of perception and judgment and hallucinations.
Long-term users risk cancer. Men tend to suffer decreased testosterone levels while women have an increase in testosterone levels and risk infertility, Snippen said. Marijuana diminishes sexual pleasure, and thus requires larger doses to achieve the same effect.
Marijuana growers are secretive, Snippen said. They do not have visitors at all hours of the day, unlike meth cookers. Their windows are often boarded or covered with plastic or tin foil. Their homes show little activity, but lights are on day and night. They often have security cameras along with pots, soil and fertilizer laying around but no garden. The homes may emit a humming noise from lighting and high power usage.
Oregon has 19,318 medical marijuana cardholders, Snippen said. Of those, 15,520 use marijuana for severe pain or muscle spasms and 320 use it for cancer. In 2005, 5,798 new cards were approved.
The law has so many exceptions about marijuana use, investigating it can be a headache, Snippen said. “We get calls. It’s frustrating to you guys, but it’s frustrating to us too.”
Marijuana and youth
Youth most often purchase marijuana in $10 increments, which buys a small nugget, Lynn said.
High school students can buy them on breaks, but “Sweet Home School District’s really tried to take a firm stance (against drugs),” he said.
That’s why police have searched the school this year using a drug-sniffing dog, Lynn said, and an investigation last fall, early in the school year, ended with six teens charged.
One of the problems SHPD has investigating marijuana use and dealing at the high school is that none of the officers can pass for 16 or 17 any more, Lynn said. The department was able to use a new officer in its investigation earlier in the school year. She was able to purchase marijuana within 10 minutes of asking about it.
Marijuana use by teens is a problem “in any school, in the state, probably the country,” Lynn said. “It’s there if you go in and ask for it.”
Children are products of their environment, Snippen said. Children see their parents smoking pot or using meth, see it’s no big deal and it sets the stage for the child to grow up using drugs.
Methamphetamines
“Fortunately, we’re not seeing as many meth labs as we used to,” Snippen said, but police are “seeing a lot of meth.”
They used to find it in powder form in different colors, he said, but now they’re seeing more meth in crystal form.
Meth users began buying the crystal because the powder variety was cut with other substances and increasingly impure, he said. Purity levels dropped to around 30 percent and even into the teens.
Crystal meth has had a purity of about 90 percent, Snippen said, but even that’s coming down now.
Meth can be ingested, smoked or injected. Like cocaine, it can be smoked in a glass pipe, a tube with a bulb on the end. The meth is dropped into the pipe and heated from beneath.
Short-term effects of the drug include euphoria, enhanced wakefulness, increased physical activity, decreased appetite and increase respiration.
Long-term effects include irritability, insomnia, confusion, tremors, anxiety, aggression, convulsions, paranoia, hallucinations, violent behavior and jerking movements.
While using meth, there comes a point where users cannot get high on any more of the drug, Snippen said. At that point, they sleep until they can get high again.
The drug is toxic and deadly.
“Realistically, there’s not a lot of 70- to 80-year-old meth addicts out there,” said Leggate said.
The toxicity of the drug depends on who made it. Mixed right, it’s not quite as toxic as it can be when it’s poorly mixed, but the byproducts can be deadly. One pound of meth leaves six pounds of waste, solid and liquid.
The drug is poison, Snippen said. People on it have open sores. When they’re high, they see things, like bugs coming out of the sores; so they pick at the sores, making them worse.
Meth labs “could be and probably are near you or someone you know,” Snippen said. They can be anywhere. They are small and mobile. They are often in motel rooms, “but (cooks) always love rentals. They get busted, (leave) and the owner has to deal with it.”
The chemicals used in meth production are all legal to possess, Snippen said. They are things that almost everyone has at home.
For some of the ingredients used to make methamphetamines, customers are required to sign their names at the store where they are purchasing the item, Snippen said, and that has helped police investigations.
A home with a meth lab will have many people coming and going, Snippen said. The suspects tend to be paranoid, aggressive and loud. They have packages and containers transported in and out of the lab. The lab will have a chemical smell.
Meth used to smell like cat urine, Snippen said, but that production method is no longer in use. Now, labs smell like solvents, ether or paint thinner.
The first time someone is caught cooking, they usually get a 30-day or 60-day jail sentence, Snippen said, but the property owner will spend $15,000 or more to clean up the lab before it can be habitable again.
“It’s sad and frustrating for everybody,” Snippen said. “We bust your dealer. He’s out of jail in four days,” but the property owner gets a big bill.
Meth use also is to blame for much of the theft that goes on. It’s the users stealing lawnmowers and personal property to trade to dealers for the drug, Leggate said.
Heroin
The main type of heroin police see locally is “black tar,” identifiable by its dark color and vinegar smell, Snippen said. It is smoked, eaten and injected, mostly injected for a quicker effect.
Short-term effects of heroin use include flushing of the skin, dry mouth, nausea and slowed breathing and cardiac functions, Snippen said. “Basically, it slows down your whole system.”
Long-term, users can develop infections, and they become intensely dependent on heroin, Snippen said. “Everyone I’ve talked to on heroin says they wish they never started.”
The drug has a tough withdrawal cycle, he said. An addict’s main goal is getting more of the drug.
Help for police
“The best way you can help us … don’t be afraid to call us,” Snippen said. The biggest complaint police receive is about why the “don’t do anything about this house.”
Many times, people call but don’t want to make an accusation, Snippen said. He recommends calling and letting police figure out whether the house really is a meth lab.
Police log all of the drug information they receive, Snippen said. They might not get to it that day or that week with just five or six detectives working drugs in the county, but “I guarantee to you, we will get to it.”
Drug investigations tend to be lengthy, Lynn said, but police want to hold cooks and users responsible for what they’re doing.
“We start getting information, we can’t always provide immediate results,” Lynn said. An investigation can take months or even years to get all of the evidence needed for a conviction.
“It’s something we know is going on, but it takes us that much time to gather information to take to a judge,” Lynn said.
The license plate numbers of those visiting a suspected drug house is a big help, Snippen said. Many complainants don’t want police using their names for fear of retaliation, and that makes getting into a drug house much more difficult, he said.
“Everything you see and document helps out so much,” Snippen said. If police go to a judge with information, and “if you want to be named, we’re almost in the house.”
Just the extra attention neighbors give to a house can make it uncomfortable for a meth cook, he said. They don’t want attention.
The drug problem has gotten bad everywhere, Snippen said. Most of Linn County’s homicides are drug-related, including the last three or four.
Albany probably has the worst problem with drugs in Linn County, Lynn said.
It used to be Lebanon and Sweet Home, Snippen said, but he agreed that Albany’s problems have gotten worse.
The bottom line, they said, is that information from citizens is a must to combat the problem.
“You’re not forgotten about,” Snippen said. “We’re not trying to push you off. Be persistent and help us out.”