Updated at: 06/16/2010 7:01 PM | KSAX.com
By: Megan Matthews

Inside the Life of a Meth Addict in Crow Wing County

Brainerd, Minn. – The Lakes Area Drug Investigative Division is working every day waging the war against meth in Crow Wing County, which gives them an inside look at the life of a meth addict.

“They haven’t been this busy that I can remember. They’re working on cases every single day,” Crow Wing County Sheriff Todd Dahl says. “I couldn’t be more proud. These guys get a tip, they run on that tip, they work with people, they work with informants.”

The majority of investigations start with a tip from the public. The tipsters are called confidential informants.

“To let us know who’s doing what and what’s going on in our community. That has become a big part of investigations,” LADID Commander Joe Meyer explained.

Many of the informants are former meth addicts who may have turned their life around and want to do something good for the community, according to Meyer. These tips lead to long, tedious hours of surveillance, which is one of the main parts of an investigation.

“When we’re doing surveillance we see all sorts of things ranging from hand to hand drug deals and criminal activity to sometimes literally nothing going on,” Meyer said.

It may be boring, but surveillance helps get a search warrant. Once they get inside the house, they find everything from metal spoons full of meth resin to glass meth pipes made out of light bulbs. In some investigations, they find large amounts of meth.

“We’ve been into houses where literally stuff is laying out in the open, there are kids in the house, meth pipes laying everywhere. This is all that guy did was deal meth,” Meyer said.

In some houses the drugs are harder to find.

“They’re very secretive, very paranoid individuals. Sometimes you really have to look,” Meyer said.

The life of a meth addict is a dark dangerous world; a world that the public rarely sees. LADID has to be a part of that world every day, which includes buying and dealing fake drugs and speaking drug dealer lingo.

“Unless you know it and live it and are taught what they’re talking about you have no idea,” Meyer explained.

It costs thousands of dollars to enforce narcotics, but Sheriff Dahl says it’s worth it.

“It really is an investment from our county, but I feel as Sheriff it’s a good thing, and I will continue to fund that program,” Sheriff Dahl said.

Methamphetamine Part 1: Destructive Problem in Rural Communities

Written for the web by Megan Matthews

megan@ksax.com