Why a surge of meth is hitting Indianapolis neighborhoods
At the depths of his addiction, Brandon George knew he could save money by ditching heroin and getting high on methamphetamine instead.
The Indianapolis man could spend $150 to $200 a day on heroin, or he could slash the costs by using meth, spending about $50 each day.
"It's stupid cheap," said George, 35.
While heroin and opioid abuse continues to be a scourge across the state — grabbing the focus of law enforcement, especially in rural areas — police in Indianapolis are seeing a "significant increase" in meth use, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Capt. Robert Holt said.
The trend has held for about five years, said Holt, of the covert investigations branch. Meanwhile, Indiana State Police investigators say they are seeing a downward trend in the number of home-grown labs.
A factor at play? An influx of meth from Mexican cartels into the Indianapolis area.
While the volume of marijuana from Mexico has declined in recent years, cartels are now flooding the area with heroin and meth, Holt said.
"They are pretty savvy in picking up what types of drugs to import in the U.S.," Holt said. "Heroin and meth probably have most addictive properties, and they are taking advantage of that to ensure repeat customers."
Meth use is not at the epidemic rates of heroin, Holt said. Heroin and opioid use, in particular, have ravaged rural Southern Indiana communities, where HIV infections rapidly spread last year.
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But meth is still drawing attention from Indiana lawmakers, who passed laws that seek to make production here more difficult. A law that allows pharmacies to limit the sale of pseudoephedrine, a common meth ingredient, to some customers went into effect July 1.
Holt also noted that imported meth has been selling at lower prices than law enforcement would expect to see — to the point where it's less cost-effective to manufacture it here.
Indeed, State Police investigators will seize fewer meth labs this year than last year if the trends continue, said 1st Sgt. Don McKay with the State Police meth suppression unit.
In 2015, the police unit seized more than 1,500 meth labs across the state, according to State Police data. Seven months into 2016, the unit has seized about 800 labs, McKay said, explaining that seizures tend to decrease in the second half of the year and have trended downward in recent months.
The meth lab seizures in 2014 and 2015, around 1,500 each, decreased from 2012 and 2013, when police seized 1,700 to 1,800 labs, the data show.
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McKay attributed the decrease in part to the availability of smuggled meth from Mexico.
"When imported meth is available, it will certainly make a difference," McKay said.
Scott Watson, founder of Heartland Intervention in Indianapolis and a clinical addictions counselor, said meth has always been available in pockets of Indianapolis, but he primarily saw the use in rural areas outside the city.
"Generally, we think of meth as consumed in the doughnut counties rather than Marion County, while heroin and weed are equal-opportunity offenders," Watson said.
Watson said addicts will sometimes use heroin and meth in tandem to balance out the highs and lows. Holt, the IMPD officer, said meth is not as deadly as heroin but still insidious.
"It still can kill you, just a little more slowly," Holt said.
For George, meth was easy to find in the city if you knew where to look. He sometimes balanced out his heroin use with meth, recalling the intense high that sometimes came with paranoia and hallucinations.
"The meth literally made me crazy. I'm not trying to be dramatic here," George said.
His addiction held him in such a tight grip, George said, that using was a physical compulsion, like yawning or sneezing. His family didn't want him around. He would enter treatment, only to leave a few days later in search of drugs. There were six facilities. And eight stays.
"I knew I needed help a long time before I got sober," he said.
Finally, he said, one stint at a treatment facility worked.
He has been clean for seven years.
Call IndyStar reporter Madeline Buckley at (317) 444-6083. Follow her on Twitter:@Mabuckley88.