Meth Invasion Part 1

Effingham County, Georgia is known for its good schools and family atmosphere, but in the past few years it has also become known for something else—a growing prevalence of the dangerous drug known as Meth.  Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie says he first began to notice the problem more and more about five years ago, “I probably hadn’t been in office 6 months when I had grown men and women come into my office and they would actually sit there and cry that their kids were getting hooked on this stuff.”  But it’s not just kids whose lives are being destroyed by the drug.  Michael Cunningham, Clinical Director of Recovery Place in Savannah, says Crystal Methamphetamine is perhaps the most addictive drug known to man, “The high is so extremely powerful and so reinforcing that people literally will do it until they drop dead and it overrides our instinct for survival that’s how powerful this drug is, so you are seeing people that literally have the opportunity to become addicted after one hit.”  There is another toll that this drug is taking.  A recent Rand Study projects that money spent for investigations, treatment, meth lab cleanup, and incarceration, will cost the state 1.3 billion dollars.  Last month state leaders announced that they will work with the private sector on the “Meth Project” a public service campaign to get the word about the dangers of meth and the high costs that come with it.