Meth In Effingham - “Shake and Bake Method”

It was created in World War II, and actually prescribed by some doctors as a weight loss drug in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Today, users are losing more than weight, they’re losing their teeth, losing their jobs, losing their freedom.

Meth - now considered many states biggest drug problem.

Nearly 12 million people have tried meth.

1.5 million are regular users, addicts. 

The cost of meth abuse to the United States is estimated at more than $23 billion dollars.

Amazing as those numbers may seem, that could end up being be just the tip of the “ice"berg.

“One pot” meth is new, easier for crooks to cook up and tougher for cops to track down.

“I wish I could make a legal product that had that kind of draw to people,“ laughs Steve Blunt of the Effingham County Drug Task Force.

As a drug task force investigator with the Effingham County Sheriff’s Department, Steve Blunt deals with Meth and Meth heads every day.

“Half of them have no water, are facing eviction, no power, no food in the house for the kids,“ explains Blunt. “All they care about is going out and buying the materials to make Meth and getting high.“
 
“Getting high” used to take a lot more money and materials.

But criminals have adapted. Now with the “one pot” method, cooks and their customers can get cranked up for less cash, anywhere they want.
“Instead of having all this stuff,“ explains Sgt Don White, Chief Investigator in Effingham County. “Everything is basically consolidated into one bottle.“

Nicknamed “shake and bake”, Investigators say the new way changes and condenses the cooking process.

In addition to size, the biggest change, no more anyhydrous ammonia. A chemical Meth heads had to steal from farmers..

“Anhydrous ammonia was probably what kept a lot of them from even trying,“ believes Blunt. “Thats one of the most dangerous things you can come by, it can kill you.“

Tweakers who “Crush and Run” now only need 2 boxes of pills, a few other items, and some ingenuity to create a batch..

“Now you can actually go into Walmart and purchase everything you need to make Methamphetamine,“ says Blunt.

The gas escapes out the top of the bottle, and when its all done the bottle is tossed aside, no evidence left behind.

“It can be made as you are going down the road,“ explains Don White. “You can throw it out the window and nobody ever knows where it comes from.“
That’s why Blunt will have to work even harder to find these addicts who seem to be finding new ways to get around arrests and still get tweaked, even as they watch the drug destroy lives around them.

“This is a product you are seeing your friends and family being destroyed over, not to mention your health,“ says an amazed Blunt.“Yet you still want to go try it. That’s amazing to me.“

Its not an easy habit to break. Less than 10% of addicts kick it the first time, if at all.

“I have a subject who is out on bond 2 months ago,“ tells Blunt. “Begged and cried to get out of jail. He bought 3 boxes in the last 2 days. We know what he’s doing. Its obvious what he’s doing and I have no pity on him. I hope he goes to prison.“

The prisons are filling up fast, with more inmates on the way. That’s why even one success story keeps these guys in the battle for Effingham.

“Every time I see a couple of them, they want to hug your neck and tell you you saved my life,“ says a smiling Blunt. “I’d be dead right now. And that’s what its about. Its not about putting people in prison.“

According to prison officials, Georgia has the fastest growing prison population in america.

That’s thanks in large part to the swelling population of meth heads. 

In Effingham county, the jail is so full, 20 of their prisoners had to be moved to Screven county, another 2 to Bulloch.

Even with a drug task force on the job and new ways of finding cooks and users, with 4400 calls a month, and a new meth cooking method, it doesn’t look like that number is going down anytime soon.