FIRST POSTED BY WKTV.COM

UTICA, N.Y. (PART II) – In part two of our look into methamphetamine addiction, we go in-depth into what the state and law enforcement are doing to contain this growing problem, and what happens to Erin Gillespie and her family.

“I’ve always been insecure about everything in my life. So when i would use drugs I didn’t care what people thought. Who wants to feel insecure about themselves? I don’t,” said Gillespie.

Erin has been clean and sober for eight months now, three of those months at Willard Drug Treatment Facility.

“Now that I’m sober, it’s like everything was a joke. And I wish I’d never tried it, I wish I’d never done any of those things,” said Gillespie.

After multiple arrests on charges of dealing meth, one New York State Trooper helped redirect Erin to rehabilitation and not prison. And after nearly five months at the Oneida County Jail, she was sent to the Willard Drug Treatment Facility.

“She wanted help getting better which is rare, very rare. And it’s hard to take at face value. Most meth addicts are extreme. They’ll steal, they’ll lie, they’re very secretive. They’re one with their drug,” said Trooper Chad Chevrier.

Meth cooks recruit others called smurfers, to get their ingredients. The main one, pseudoephedrine, is found in cold medication, and readily available at local pharmacies.

“This isn’t like heroin, this isn’t like coke, this isn’t like marijuana. They have to go out to these stores, and they will go long distances away from their home to try not to be detected. Stores need to let us know so we can try to locate where they’re going, and stop what they’re doing,” said Chevrier.

In 2006 the federal government signed into law The Combat Meth Epidemic Act. It sets a limit of how much pseudo you can legally buy in a 30 day period. You must show state issed photo identification, and the legal limit is up to 9 grams per month.

Depending on the dosage, that’s about two or three retail boxes per month. In addition, the law says pharmacies must track all sales with paper logs.

NPLEX, which stands for National Precursor Log Exchange is a real-time electronic logging and tracking software of over-the-counter medications containing precursors to meth.

The software is paid for by big pharma and already mandatory in 32 states, but not in New York.

“NPLEX is very important. It’s extremely helpful to law enforcement because there is a single database that all law enforcement can refer, to help identify smurfers and cooks. It saves time, and it deters the criminal element,” said Chevrier.

A company based out of Kentucky called APPRISS creates and distributes that sofware.

VP of Government Affairs of APPRISS, Jim Aquisto, was in law enforcement for more than two decades, and explains how it works.

“It doesn’t just flag them(criminals) for later investigation, it actually says you can’t have this, and they don’t take it out the door. When law enforcement wants to see the logs in real time, they simply pull up the database, which is no different than paper logs already mandated by the federal government. For example: this person tried to buy too much and they tried five times, and you might want to know about that,” said Acquisto.

A bill that’s currently in the state legislature would make NPLEX mandatory for all pharmacies. The bill has passed the senate three times, but keeps getting hung up in the assembly.

Lawmakers say it’s because meth use has exploded in just the past five years, and the assembly is typically known for advocating for the rights of the individual.  But in light of the increased usage, that could soon change.

Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi (D-119th District), a co-sponsor of the bill said, “This is a case of where the law is trying to catch up with a specific problem. As this becomes more and more of a problem, the legislature is going to have to act to try to address it.”

Chevrier said, beyond the criminal aspect, the toll of this particular drug on family is profound, something he doesn’t always see.

“For me, it was a night and day difference to see her in the midst of her addiction at those labs, and then a few months later, I talked to her again several times, when she was sober. Then I met her mom. You really start to have a connection of the effects that she has had on her family once that happens. And she’s got a little one, and it’s tough to see how that’s effected him,” said Chevrier.

Erin’s mother, Beverly Gillespie said, “Her son, Evan, has been pretty much devastated by all this. It took him forever to understand that it wasn’t anything he did, she was just gone. There really wasn’t anything we didn’t do with our kids… we loved them, we hugged all the time, we went places. And here we are, it happened to us. I don’t think anyone is immune from this disease.”

“This is it for me. I don’t think I will be given another chance. I know that and there’s no getting around it. I know my mother will never speak to me if I blow this,” said Erin.

Erin is out of Willard Rehab now and at a half-way house in Utica. She’s getting outpatient treatment and following the 12 steps, doing everything she is asked. And she knows she’s being watched.

“It’s up to her. I think Erin will get better if Erin wants to get better,” said Chevrier.

“She’s awake now, she’s aware now, she’s sober now. So it might work this time, it just might. Her whole family has all of our fingers crossed that this might be the magic bullet,” said Beverly.

First posted by: WKTV.COM

UTICA, N.Y. (PART ONE) – In New York, Oneida County had the highest number of incidents of methamphetamine related arrests in 2015.

According to NY State Police, last year Central New York had 349 meth busts. That’s almost one bust every day, and it’s increased 60 percent from the year before.

NYS Trooper Chad Chevrier, from CCSERT (Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team) said, “Meth is one of the most addictive drugs out there. It’s extremely powerful, and users only have to take a small amount to have a very long high.”

Chevrier says it’s because of what law enforcement refers to as the shake and bake or one-pot method. This method is making the drug even more accessible, and it’s making a huge impact on those who take the drug.

It’s a method where addicts mix dangerous, flammable chemicals inside soda bottles, causing a reaction needed to turn toxic ingredients into meth.

“The reason it’s so prevalent right now is you could have final product within an hour. It’s easy to conceal, it’s mobile, and it’s quick. You could put it in a backpack, walk down to the park and finish your cook. Or you could do a cook down in the park. You could go from store to hardware store, pick up your chemicals, or you could be driving down the road burping your bottle, doing a cook right to finished product in your car.”

But it’s also dangerous. “It creates a chemical, fire and environmental hazard, which is not only scary, it’s costly to clean up,” said Chevrier.

However danger is not something users are thinking about when they need the drug.

Former meth user and cook, Erin Gillespie said, “It was extremely easy. I watched how to make it three times. And then the fourth time I jumped in, learned how to make it. It came too naturally to me. I thought, I have nothing, I have nobody so let me make some money, and get high. And so, that’s what I did.”

After being arrested multiple times for cooking and using meth in Rome, Gillespie is in Willard Drug Treatment Facility, a state run Department of Corrections program.

“That drug was the worst drug I’ve ever done, but it gave me honestly the most amazing feeling I’ve ever felt in my life,” said Gillespie. “The drugs became everything to me. After so much time using them, I had to wake up to them, and I had to go to sleep to them. And throughout the whole day that’s all I did, focus on drugs, doing them, getting money to get more of them, and doing the same thing over and over and over.”

Gillespie is no different from many young women in this area. She grew up in a conservative home in Clayville, going to church, and riding horses on her parents’ farm. “I was in 4H, I was an honor roll student. I went to college for equine science and management, but I never finished,” said Gillespie shaking her head.

“I started smoking pot in high school. In my school, that’s what everybody did. We smoked weed and drank. And then once I got to college I started using cocaine and ecstacy. It wasn’t a far jump to meth,” said Gillespie.

Erin’s mother, Beverly Gillespie, shakes visibly when she talks about what her daughter once was.

“This drug took a little girl who was happy go lucky and rode horses and sang at the top of her lungs, and it made her into a ghost. She’s a shadow of who she used to be. She was not Erin anymore, and I couldn’t reach her anymore… I knew she was losing the battle,” said Beverly.

“Meth users could typically be up for days. It’s not uncommon for a week or two weeks with zero sleep. Until they flat out crash, and often they sleep for days, ” said Chevrier.

After years of using and cooking, Gillespie was estranged from family members, including her seven-year-old son Evan, who now lives with Beverly. She says getting back to him keeps her on the straight and narrow.

“It breaks my heart every time I talk to my mother. I hear her voice, and she’s talking about meth to me. That breaks my heart. It’s like who was I, you know? What was I doing?” said Gillespie.

She is sober now for the first time in nearly 15 years, thanks to the alternative Willard Rehab provided. Instead of prison, she was given the option to finish the program, dry out, and begin again.

The program is run like a military institution. You have to ask permission to use the bathroom, to speak, to move, something Gillespie appreciates.

“I haven’t had this kind of discipline and I haven’t been this sober in such a long time. I haven’t been able to see things clearly in a really long time,” said Gillespei. “So, I believe, for me there is hope.”

But for law enforcement recovery from meth is the exception, and Trooper Chevrier is taking this recovery with a degree of skepticism.

“I have never met anybody in our area that has recovered from meth addiction,” said Chevrier.

A powerful statement from someone who’s been on the inside, and has known many addicts.

In part two of our in-depth look inside meth, we hear what happens to Erin, and what law enforcement and the state are doing to curb the rise in drug use.