Methamphetamine Shooting Up The West Drug Leaves Trail Of Destruction, Death As It Spreads Up The Coast

At one time, Gary Burton’s family could have been described as ideal.

Burton’s diary characterized the daily events of a proud family man: “Suzy’s baseball team won district. … Shelly won cheerleader. Those Burton girls are the best. … Gave Clint my favorite T-shirt today for his first football jersey.”

Clinton Burton was in high school when his father brought something new into the family’s home in the rural southern Oregon town of Eagle Point. Methamphetamine changed everything.

“The diary entries cut off when he started using meth. He didn’t keep a diary after that point,” said Medford attorney Charles Kochlacs.

Methamphetamine, known as crank or speed among users, is a homebrewed concoction that mixes ephedrine with gasoline, alcohol, pool-cleaning supplies or drain cleaners.

The drug, which can be snorted, smoked or injected, is becoming the drug of choice in much of the West.

John Coonce, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency’s supervisory special agent, says methamphetamine is becoming to the ‘90s what cocaine was to the ‘80s. But it is cheaper than cocaine, more readily available and longer-lasting.

“With meth, you’re more awake than with cocaine,” said one 37-year-old user in San Diego. “Cocaine - it gives you a little rush and then you go down. But with this, you stay the same. You can stay awake for days and days.”

The drug’s euphoric high is followed by deep depression and paranoia. Long-term users often leap into violent rages.

The arrival of methamphetamine in the Burton home altered everything, Kochlacs said. Gary Burton sold it. Clinton’s mother began using it. And Clinton was pressured to take it to work long hours in his father’s auto repair shop.

“Clinton basically became an addict at his father’s direction,” Kochlacs said.

Gary Burton’s demands on Clinton intensified. Arguments erupted every day as father pressured son to work harder. The boy stopped going to school. His parents refused to drive him to the bus stop 7 miles away.

“He was trapped on the property. He was left alone to deal with his father’s ranting, raving and abuse,” Kochlacs said. “It was an atmosphere of terror. His dad was completely unpredictable, violently angry.

“The mother would leave, sometimes hiding in the fields and Clint would be the one there dealing with the father.”

With his two older sisters already gone from the house, Clint decided he also needed a way out. He decided to join the Navy and stopped using meth in order to pass a drug test.

But Gary Burton’s usage continued, as did the arguments.

On the evening of Sept. 27, a fight escalated to the point that Mrs. Burton fled the home. As she drove away, a gunshot went off inside.

Gary Burton and 17-year-old Clinton were shouting from separate rooms when the boy fired a .22-caliber pistol through a closed bedroom door. His 44-year-old father, standing on the other side, was killed.

Clinton now is in a residential drug treatment center after pleading guilty to manslaughter. He declined to be interviewed.

“Methamphetamine eventually led to the demise of the family,” said Lt. Ed Mayer, commander of the Jackson County Narcotics Enforcement Team. “That family started out as a very typical family with strong family values. Meth led to the eventual tragic results of what occurred.”

Methamphetamine is changing the face of drug culture along the West Coast.

With roots in California, the drug has quickly spread into Oregon, Washington and Arizona, said Coonce, who heads the DEA’s national clandestine meth lab task force.

Police report increased methamphetamine usage in groups ranging from curious teenagers and weightconscious housewives to hardened criminals, said Steve Evans, state coordinator for the Western States Information Network, which collects law enforcement data.

“The people, by the time we get to them, are usually in the criminal justice system or on welfare. They don’t stay employed long once they get hooked on that stuff,” said Scott Barnes of the Valley Interagency Narcotics Team in Albany, Ore. “Basically, it’s a poor man’s cocaine.”

In Medford, Ore., a trading hub has formed. Methamphetamine freshly manufactured in California goes out to other points in the Northwest.

But much of the drug stays in the community and its effects are being felt in all areas of public service.

Health care officials report 37 percent of newborns in Rogue Valley Medical Center’s intensive care unit have mothers who used illegal drugs while pregnant.

Eighty percent of the county’s child abuse cases involve drug abuse.

Educators report increases in attention deficit disorder and outbreaks of violence.

While the statistics do not show what percentage of the problems can be traced to methamphetamine, social workers say it is the main source.

The county’s drug team spends two-thirds of its time on methamphetamine cases. And because users are notoriously violent, the drug team now responds with two or three officers instead of just one.

Spread of the drug in Jackson County has been uncontrollable.

In 1991, 81 methamphetaminerelated charges were filed. That number jumped to 177 in 1992 and to 343 in 1993. Last year, it was 812.

Investigators who saw 6 ounces of the drug in 1991 seized more than 10 pounds in 1994.

Farther up Interstate 5, Salem, Ore., police seized 27 pounds of methamphetamine between January and April 30. About 12 pounds were taken in all of 1994 and levels were below 5 pounds in each of the previous three years.

In contrast, cocaine seizures dropped from about 46 pounds in 1991 to 7 pounds last year.

Drug enforcement authorities along the West Coast attribute the dramatic rise in the methamphetamine trade to traffickers with ties to Mexico, where the drug’s key ingredients are easily imported from other countries.

Dealers who in the past dealt cocaine are finding that with methamphetamine, they don’t need to split profits with Colombians or worry about crossing international borders, Coonce said. The drug can be made at home