Some people live in Charleston for the hometown atmosphere or for the landscape. However, some people live here for the miles and miles of cornfields, which are ideal for methamphetamine production.

In the past four years, the number of methamphetamine producers, users and dealers have skyrocketed, attracting the attention of the East Central Illinois Drug Task Force who created Operation Crystal Clean to fight methamphetamine production.

Since the operation was created three years ago, the task force has busted a considerable amount of methamphetamine labs.

“We’ve put a dent in them the past several years,” said Scott Standerfer, group supervisor for the East Central Illinois Drug Task Force.

However, the number of users are growing fast and the number of labs are following suit and the task force is not expecting them to slow down.

“It’s an extremely addictive drug, that’s the problem,” Standerfer said. “It’s certainly not slowing down any.”

The number of busts and number of users are on a parallel increase which causes a third party to overcrowd the issue.

Three’s a crowd

As a result of methamphetamine lab busts by the task force, jails across the Midwest are overcrowding. Specifically, the Coles County jail has already exceeded its limits of prisoners several times and frequently break classification regulations of which prisoners can share a cell according to their crime.

The issue of an overcrowded Coles County jail is two-fold however.

The growing number of methamphetamine prisoners is rapidly increasing, leaving county officials with the problem of expanding the county jail or building an additional facility.

On the other hand, more prisoners means more busts of methamphetamine labs, which can be attributed to Operation Crystal Clean.

The abundance of crops in Charleston, as well as downstate, attracts methamphetamine users to the area. Farmers commonly use a main ingredient of methamphetamine, anhydrous ammonia, as fertilizer.

Some think the drug’s number of users is growing because it is cheaper than cocaine, has a longer lasting high, anywhere between four to eight hours, and because it is very addictive, Standerfer said.

Because of the popularity of the drug in Charleston, many stores have voluntarily regulated the sale of Sudafed. The cold medicine contains pseudoephedrine, which is a component in the production of methamphetamines.

Regulation

Wal-Mart, 2250 Lincoln Ave., is one such store that pioneered the regulation of Sudafed at least two years ago, Standerfer said.

The medicine is no longer sold off the shelves, but behind the pharmacy. If a customer asks for more than two boxes of Sudafed, their license plate number is taken down for authorities, said Jason Schaal, manager.

Similarly, at County Market, 505 W. Lincoln Ave., regulates their sales of Sudafed due to frequent thefts of the medicine.

Store Director Mark Elliott said when he began work at the store last October, boxes of Sudafed would consistently be found empty.

“I was getting tired of losing so much money,” Elliott said.

Now County Market sells Sudafed behind their service desk. When any person asks for more than five boxes, the police are contacted.

Since the regulations were put in place almost a year ago, Elliot said there have been a handful of suspicious people buying Sudafed. When store employees called the police, a common response was that police were already watching the individual.

Can prevention slow use down?

As far as public safety, the task force is continuing to educate police officers, fire departments and civic groups about how to recognize methamphetamine lab and user characteristics.

Characteristics of users commonly include hyperactivity, rapid weight loss, lifestyle changes and sweating.

However, Standerfer said, with the ever-increasing number of producers and users, overcrowded jails force county officials to make a quick decision.

“The problem is we can only do so much and more new people are cropping up all the time,” he said.

For now, Standerfer said the nine-person task force against drugs will continue to work on prevention while busting methamphetamine labs.

“I guess time will tell,” he said. “It’s hard to say how much we’re preventing or not.

“We’re doing what we can and that’s about.”