LAUREN
AT THEIR PEAK IN THE EARLY
2000'S, AT-HOME METH LABS IN THE
OZARKS BECAME SYNONYMOUS
WITH OUR LOCAL AREA CODE, "417."
LAUREN
IN FACT, THE FIRST ENTRY IN
URBAN DICTIONARY DEFINES 417 AS
-- "THE AREA OF THE COUNTRY WITH
THE
LARGEST NUMBER OF METH BUSTS,
LOCATED IN SOUTHWEST MISSOURI."
LAUREN
BUT IN THE YEARS SINCE THEN,
DATA FROM LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
SHOWS METH LAB BUSTS HAVE
BECOME NEARLY NON-EXISTENT.
LAUREN
IN A KOLR 10 INVESTIGATION, I'LL
FIND OUT IF MISSOURI - OR GREENE
COUNTY - IS STILL
THE METH CAPITAL OF THE WORLD.
LAUREN BARNAS REPORTING:
LOCATED IN THE HEART OF THE
BIBLE BELTâ WHERE
JESUS IS KING AND YOU CAN FIND A
CHURCH ON EVERY CORNERâ NOT
TOO LONG AGO, YOU COULD FIND
A METH LAB JUST AS EASILY.
Cody Pickens/Former Meth Addict:
"Meth is everywhere. Any street
corner, any hotel room you go to
around here, you can find meth."
A METH ADDICT FOR ABOUT 10
YEARS, CODY PICKENS
NEVER REALLY KNEW WHERE HIS
DRUGS WERE COMING FROM.
Charlie Romine/Former Meth
Addict:
"I didn't really care where it
came from. I just wanted to get
high."
IN 2004, DATA FROM THE MISSOURI
STATE HIGHWAY
PATROL SHOWS METH BACK THEN MOST
LIKELY CAME FROM AN AT-HOME LAB.
MISSOURI HAD THE *MOST METH LAB
BUSTS IN THE
COUNTRY THAT YEAR.
WITH 189 IN GREENE COUNTYâ
THAT WAS
SECOND ONLY TO JEFFERSON COUNTY
NEAR SAINT LOUIS.
CHARLIE ROMINE IS ALSO A FORMER
ADDICT.
Charlie Romine/Former Meth
Addict:
"It's awful. It's a waiting
game. you wake up and your
primary
mission of the day is find that
way to get high. So if you wake
up and you don't already have
something, that's what you're
gonna do. Before you go to work,
before you make breakfast for
your family, before anything."
MERCY'S EMERGENCY ROOM IN
SPRINGFIELD
OFTEN TREATS ADDICTS.
DOCTOR JOSEPH JONES CAN SPOT A
METH ADDICT
BY THEIR AGGIATION, RACE HEART
AND HALLUCINATIONS.
Dr. Joseph Jones/Mercy ER:
"I did my residency in Cleveland
Ohio and over 4 years I didn't
see one patient on meth. I came
here and in my first shift I
probably saw 4 or 5 patients
accutely intoxicated on meth."
SINCE 2004, METH LAB BUSTS
ACROSS THE
COUNTRY BECOME SCARCE. (time
lapse of numbers dropping)
IN 2018, MISSOURI DROPS FROM THE
NATION'S TOP
TEN LIST.
ON THE COUNTY LEVEL, THE NUMBER
OF BUSTS
DECREASES FROM NEARLY 200â TO
JUST THREE.
WHAT SEEMS LIKE GOOD NEWS, COULD
REPRESENT
MERELY A CHANGE IN METH
MANUFACTURING.
Dr. Joseph Jones/Mercy ER:
"The injuries they're coming in
with are different. It used to
be
that we'd see folks that were
making meth at home. We'd see
explosions, burns, other
traumatic injuries. But now it
just
seems that they're accutely
intoxicated and they come in
with altered mental status."
IN 2010, MISSOURI ENACTED
LEGISLATION TO TRACK THE
SALE OF DRUGS USED TO *MAKE
METH.
THAT YEAR, THE GREENE COUNTY
CORONER
RECORDED 7 DEATHS FROM THE DRUG.
A DECADE LATERâ THAT MANY
PEOPLE DIED JUST IN
THE FIRST TWO MONTHS OF 2020.
Dr. Joseph Jones/Mercy ER:
"My understanding is that meth
production has gone from
basements and little hideouts to
industrial grade stuff in Mexico
and we're just importing it."
DATA FROM THE COUNTY CORONER FOR
THE LAST
FEW YEARS SUGGESTS METH IS MORE
DEADLY THAN EVER BEFORE.
IN 2017 - 30 PEOPLE DIED FROM
METH IN THE COUNTY.
IN 2018 - 32 PEOPLE DIED.
AND IN 2019 - THE MEDICAL
EXAMINER REPORTS 67
PEOPLE, MORE THAN DOUBLE THE
YEAR BEFORE, DIED FROM METH.
THANKFUL HE LIVED TO TELL THE
STORY... THE
THOUGHT OF ROCK BOTTOM BRINGS
TEARS TO HIS EYES.
Cody Pickens/Former Meth Addict:
"I remember being homeless on
the streets of Branson, with
nowhere to go, no one to turn
to, just absolutely broken. all
loss of hope, eating out of
dumpsters so I wouldn't be
hungry."
JONES DESCRIBES DEATH BY METH AS
SLOW OVER
TIME...
SOMETIMES THAT MEANS HE TREATS
THE SAME ADDICTS
MORE THAN ONCE A WEEK.
Dr. Joseph Jones/Mercy ER:
"Unfortunately we know a lot of
them on a first name basis.
They know mine, I know theirs."
FROM ALL ACCOUNTS, THE HIGH IS
EUPHORIC -- AND
THE SOBERING CRASH BACK DOWN TO
EARTH, PAINFUL.
THAT'S WHY, IT OFTEN TAKES MORE
THAN
MEDICINE TO SAVE A LIFE FROM
ADDICTION.
OPTIONAL OUTCUE
LAUREN BARNAS OZARKS FIRST
LAUREN
THE MEN I SPOKE TO FOR THIS
INVESTIGATION -- THEIR STORIES
DON'T END HERE.
Cody Pickens/Former Meth Addict:
"I thought I was stuck that way.
I thought I was going to be a
meth addict my whole life."
Charlie Romine/Former Meth
Addict:
"This is like the cycle-breaking
thing right now I think. This is
that generational curse
breaking.
LAUREN
THERE IS LIFE AFTER ADDICTION.
TOMORROW MORNING ON DAYBREAK,
FIND OUT HOW A LOCAL PROGRAM IS
HELPING MEN LIKE CHARLIE
AND CODY GET SOBER, AND STAY
SOBER.
JOE
COMING UP NEXT..IN DAYBREAK IN