Drug Awareness Recognition - Meth

[willbird]

So if I get rid of either the tinfoil, the nuts and bolts, or the porn in my garage I'm safe from profiling then ;-) ??

I do remember WAYYYY back in the day a friend was into smoking freebase, to be on the low down one guy would buy the foil and the other would buy the baking soda, same car, same carry out, walk in together, but be SLY like that :-).



Bill

[Jaguar57]

An absolute fact. It's a distinctive, nasty odor. Meth heads stink.

To anyone who wants to answer this, just curious what does that order smell like? I remember my brother in law said meth smells like "cat urine" due to the ammonia in it. Is that the smell you are referring too or just something else thats indescribable.

Thanks

[Desert DPS]

To anyone who wants to answer this, just curious what does that order smell like? I remember my brother in law said meth smells like "cat urine" due to the ammonia in it. Is that the smell you are referring too or just something else thats indescribable.

Thanks

From what I have experienced in dealing with people who have used meth.

They have a nasty body odor, a lot worse than your typical "B.O." The odor has a chemical taint to it that I don't know how to describe. I am by no means an expert on it but I would imagine it's in part to them being up for days on end and not bathing plus the chemicals leaving their bodies. This creates a distinct odor and it's pretty disgusting. There may be other factors that I'm not familiar with as well. I have transported people on numerous occasions who smell like this and they're all meth heads.

Their skin is just nasty too. To give you an example, I arrested a lady for a couple of warrants and she was a big time tweaker. She had nasty sores all over her arms and her skin was, well, the best thing I can think of is malleable. She was absolutely gorgeous at one time in her life (from her license) and now she is difficult to look at because of the drug use. I put gloves on before I arrested her. Her car was a complete trash heap. Garbage up to the seats and tons of nappy clothes in the back. Lots of fast food wrappers and related garbage. Pretty typical from what I've seen.

[Sharp]

The "sores" on their skin are from where they just pick at their skin for hours... Certain drugs can give you a tingling sensation on certain parts of your body, like something is crawling on your skin, so theyll just sit there and pick at it.

Could also be chemical burns.

[YELLOWLAB]

After a long periods of abuse, pupils will become non-reactive to light stimuli. I'm D.A.R. certified. I don't like handling tweaks. The pulse rate will usally be a good indication. They do have odors also.

I can find so many other things I would rather do than handle these subjects, and go to the hospital and have them pee. Then have the justice system give them slaps on the wrist, or treatment, over and over.

I know guys who enjoy contacting these individuals. Most of them already used their stash and have nothing in possesion, so all you have is a 11550 H&S. Oh well, I guess it's job security.

[KAA951]

The UP and DOWN sides of meth...

Though I am not an active DRE anymore-

There are some studies underway on what is commonly called the two sides of heavy (tweaking) stimulant use (that we widely see in meth users). For lack of a more scientific term- there is an "UP" side and a "DOWN" side to meth use and a meth user may exhibit different clues / symptoms based on when you encounter them.

The lay person / jury version of this is to explain that closed biological systems- such as the human body- operate in what is termed homeostasis. Draw a straight (or nearly straight line) across a piece of paper that shows your minor ups and downs during a normal day- exercise, sleep, stress etc. Then draw a line for the heavy stimulant user- starts on the normal line but goes almost immediately to the top of the page and either plateaus (if they continue to take more and "tweak") or it starts to drop. You explain to the jury the simple idea of "What goes up must come down" applies in our bodies too. Drop the tweakers line now to a depressant just as low. Continue to draw the low line for just as long as it was at the high- to show how a body in homeostasis has to recover from the high. Then, as long as they don't take any more meth (which they always seem to do) the line would slowly recover back to the "normal."

So, this explains why a meth use could still be under the influence of the meth they took- but appear to be under the influence of a depressant if they are "Down". Example- this is the guy you find passed out behind the wheel of his car at a stop sign with no odor of alcohol.

Hope that made sense. It is much easier to explain if you can draw it on a board while you explain it.

[VIPERCOUNTRY911]

Urine Tests

I am a D.R.E. in Florida. Remember that urine is a waste product of our bodies and therefore the chemical or drug must be first used by the body, pass through the metabolism process, then it will enter your urine. If you have someone that just used an hour ago, you make an arrest, then have them **** in a cup....you may not get positive results because they have not metabolized the chemical yet. Blood tests will usually show much better results. Also, if they are using low levels of your common drugs the labs usually have a certain threshold that they use as a baseline for testing. Ex: Lab baseline is 150 nanograms of THC, and your bad guy only has 140 nanograms in his urine, he would come back as a negative screen for THC. And finally, certain hallucinogens and GHB are usually not tested for at least in Florida under the standard LE Drug Test. The lab techs have to use a different instrument to test for those drugs. Talk to you lab techs and find out exactly what they test they do. Hope this helps.

[dmr400]

Great thread, this kind of thing is one of the reasons I joined the forum. My question is, are there any good resources out there that show the signs (physical and incidental) of drug use? I'm pursuing a position in Law Enforcement, but am woefully ignorant of the "drug culture" for lack of a better term. Have never used any kind of drug or associated with anyone more into them than a few recreational Marijuana users and am trying to broaden my knowledge base. Thanks!

[HotSoup]

Great thread, this kind of thing is one of the reasons I joined the forum. My question is, are there any good resources out there that show the signs (physical and incidental) of drug use? I'm pursuing a position in Law Enforcement, but am woefully ignorant of the "drug culture" for lack of a better term. Have never used any kind of drug or associated with anyone more into them than a few recreational Marijuana users and am trying to broaden my knowledge base. Thanks!

The best resource is probably street experience for catching the signs and symptoms...class work and reading material can tell you what those signs are but being out on the street and seeing it first hand will work the best IMO. Perfect example is when I was a rookie and riding with a senior Officer he pointed out that Meth "smell" that all tweekers have. Didn't know before hand what the smell was until he pointed it out...it's not something you can describe but once it's been pointed out you'll never forget it and you'll know that when you smell it you'll be dealing with a tweeker.

[codemanski]

Hotsoup,
Kinda like dirty socks and a litter box all rolled into one, huh? Close as I can come to describing the odor. Also be mindful to the suspect who uses tons of perfume to try to cover it up...users KNOW they smell, but the next high is the priority. Be safe!
Codeman

[Taylor13]

Engine parts in your living room and sink? Rusty nuts and bolts in your garage? LMAO.

[Presence 1*]

these people are super paranoid and also like to spend their time by disassembling electronics.

no clue why, but these items and behaviors seem to be prevalent among the tweakers.

[Green Eye 55]

Meth smell

I once had an employee that was a meth user. I didn't know at the time, but, of course, once I found out he was gone.
I can only describe the odor as being a cross between recently puking, too much cologne, and badly needing a shower. Once you smell it, you never forget.
I'm glad to say that I have recently heard that he is clean and has stayed that way. I really hope so for him, nasty, nasty stuff.

[nuthead]

these people are super paranoid and also like to spend their time by disassembling electronics.

no clue why, but these items and behaviors seem to be prevalent among the tweakers.

It's because they can't sleep and they're "energized" so they'll often spend their time trying to "fix" things or just wanting to see how they work.

[Kieth M.]

Heroin users often use a stimulant as well such as crack/meth as a pickup to the low of Heroin

Yep, if they'll do one drug, chances are they'll do another to counteract the one they're on.

I'll never forget stopping a Hollywood prostitute who threw a syringe away when I made contact with her. While doing the DRE exam, her pupils exhibited hippus...alternately constricting and dilating, as the drugs fought each other for control.

When I went through DRE school the term to describe that kind of user was, "He's a Chemical Gourmet"