Drug Awareness

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Drug Awareness

• Sergeant Todd Caufield
• Sergeant Troy Boice
• Cortland County Sheriff's Department
• Cortland County Drug Task Force

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Drug Awareness

• The Obvious
• The not-so-obvious
• The Inobvious
• The drug market is an underground world not meant
  to be seen by casual observers.

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If you wanted to go out today and buy a piece of
crack cocaine, could you do it? Do you know
where to go, what to look for, who to ask, or
even how to ask for it? What about your 15 year
old?
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Cortland County - Most Prevalent

• Marijuana
• Cocaine (powder and rock)
• MDMA (ecstasy)
• Pharmaceutical and OTC drugs
• LSD (blotter most, microdot occasional)
• Methamphetamine (crank)
• Psilocybin Mushrooms
• Heroin

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Marijuana

• Cannabis Sativa plant
• Tetrahydracannabinol (THC) is the active
  ingredient
• 72 strains of cannabis - only one sativa (w/ THC)
• All of the strains are referred to as hemp but
  THC not needed to make clothes!!

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Marijuana - continued

• Used in 3200 B.C. China as cure for
  absenmindedness
• Sale to anyone under 18 is class D Felony
• Smoked using rolling papers or specialty pipes
  and bongs
• Approximately 2-3 THC in 60 and 70s - now
  around 15-18

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You can get it in plant form...
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You can get it packaged...
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And you can get it in the mail!!
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Grows as well in the garden...
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As it does in the corn!!
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Things to look for

• Packaging material (sandwich bags, small jewelers
  bags, film canisters)
• Smoking implements (obvious pipes, disguised
  pipes, rolling papers)
• Assorted items indicating an interest, not
  necessarily use

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If you use a school bus to dry your marijuana
You might be a redneck!!
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Cocaine - Powder

• Central Nervous System Stimulant
• 80 - 100 per gram
• Typically cut w/ inositol, baking soda, even
  rat poison!
• Snorted or injected
• About 20 minutes to take effect and last about an
  hour

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Cocaine - powder

• Freebase was early form of smoking cocaine.
  Was mixed in a spoon with ether or acetone and a
  flame held under the spoon. Was extremely
  volatile (Richard Pryor)
• Powder was so expensive it was labeled rich
  mans drug

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Cocaine - crack

• Was developed as a safe form of freebasing
  cocaine. Could now be smoked w/o blowing up in
  your face
• Also brought the price down so even kids could
  afford it
• One of the most addictive drugs available today

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Cocaine - crack

• Takes effect almost immediately (10-12 seconds)
• Intense high
• Lasts about 10-15 minutes
• After coming down it leaves the user with the
  urge to do more to regain that high

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Crack pipes w/ Chore Boy
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Not-so-obvious pipes
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MDMA (ecstacy)

• Stimulant and mild-hallucinogen
• Most popular w/ high school and college age
• Most common in pill form
• candy necklaces are sometimes used to disguise
  their appearance
• Rave party drug

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MDMA - continued

• Glow sticks, light sticks, candy necklace, sports
  drinks, baby pacifiers are all items that could
  be attributed to the drug
• Causes heightened sensory perception and teeth
  grinding
• Fast growing abused drug (654 seizures in 1993
  compared to 954,000 seizures in 1999)

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MDMA pills
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LSD

• Hallucinogen
• Blotter, Gel-tabs, and microdot are most common
  form
• Causes giddiness and hallucinations, depending on
  amount taken
• Are extremely small in size and can be hidden
  almost anywhere

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One hit of LSD (not the penny)
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400 Hits of Blotter LSD
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Methamphteamine

• Powder similar to cocaine except slightly tannish
  color and chunkier
• Smoking meth can cause abusers to have
  psychotic-like episodes and become very dangerous
• Snorted or smoked with glass pipe

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Methamphetamine - continued

• Stimulant - sometimes referred to as crystal or
  crank
• Small meth labs are becoming the trend -
  spreading from the west coast and now on the east
  coast - labs are hazardous waste sites that are
  environmental hazards and explosive but small
  enough to fit in the back of a pick-up truck

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Meth pipe
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Psilocybin Mushrooms

• One of many strains of mushrooms that all look
  identical except that most are poisonous and
  lethal
• The psilocybin is also toxic (just not lethal)
  and the hallucinations are actually a side effect
  of the toxin on the body
• May appear a bluish color when dried especially
  if broken (reaction to oxidation)

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Psilocybin Mushrooms

• Method of use is ingestion by either chewing or
  brewing into a tea
• Often referred to as shrooms, caps, or lids

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Psilocybin Mushrooms
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Heroin

• Usually packaged in small wax type baggies or
  folded wax paper with some having some type
  identifying stamp on the baggies.
• Normal purchase weight in Cortland County has
  been 1/10th of a gram per baggie
• Each baggie ranges from 15 to 20
• A bundle of 10 baggies are 150 to 200 per
  gram
• Appearance is tan/beige powder

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The hidden dangers of drug abuse
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Happiness is a 500mm lens!
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Observation, knowing what to look for and knowing
what your are seeing

• Awareness (people, places and things)
• Recognizing what you are seeing (obviousness)
• Is an item in an odd location? (Why)
• Is it what it appears to be? (not so obvious)
• Knowing where to look
• Other indicators

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False bottoms
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Torn pieces of plastic wrap
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Register vents make good hiding spots
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Hiding in plain sight
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Or is it hiding at all?
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Stem
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Intent to sell - multiples and sizes
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IOU??? Other indicators
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The trouble with too much paraphernalia and
frequent use - things get left out in the open
easily
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And lurking in the closet
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Now this truly is home grown
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Hidden digital scales are a clue
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Triple beam scales under bed frame
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500 worth of garbage
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Numerous sandwich baggies with the corners torn
off are a clue to drug sales
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Digital scales, box of baggies, several bags of
marijuana, box of cash... no secrets here. Case
closed and only one picture!
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Indicators of Drug Abuse
NOTE while the following, in combination, could
represent "known-indicators" of drug-abuse, they
do not conclusively prove drug abuse. For
example, several of these indicators can be
exhibited in someone with a newly acquired
emotional stress (ie death in the family,
divorce, loss of job, etc.). However, in
combination, these symptoms could well be
drug-abuse related. Especially if there is a
sudden appearance of a combination of these
indicators in a person you know well or know this
is not the norm for the. If you recognize that
these indicators represent "new" behavior for
someone, there is a strong possibility that those
sudden changes are a result of newly-begun
drug-use.
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Performance indicators

• excessive absenteeism or tardiness
• lower productivity, lower grades
• missing deadlines
• deteriorating work quality or work ethic
• low or decreasing morale
• increased minor accidents, mistakes
• multiple reports of theft, missing personal items
  by co-workers, classmates

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Behavioral indicators

• sudden change in attitude, work, or behavior- a
  new, I dont care attitude
• sudden deterioration of long standing
  friendships, relationships
• "explosive" arguments and disagreements over
  small matters
• frequent hangover symptoms
• using drug culture jargon, signs, symbols
• secretive behavior

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• avoiding straight (non drug-users) co-workers
  or classmates
• erratic behavior-forgetfulness-indecision
• deterioration in personal appearance and hygiene
• hyper-activity, constant toe or heel-tapping
  and/or "drumming" of fingers
• easy excitability
• restlessness, increased physical activity wearing
  of long-sleeved garments in very warm weather
• new financial problems or frequent borrowing of
  money

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Physical indicators

• small blood spots or bruises on skin
• bloodshot or watery eyes
• runny or irritated nose, irritating cough, sore
  throat
• speech pattern changes, slurred speech, faster
  speech, slower speech
• tremors or jitters
• constant scratching of skin, "picking" at skin
  and hair on arms, etc.
• poor coordination, tripping, spilling, bumping
  into things and other people

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• large or small (dilated) pupils
• a faint skin odor- either sweet or acrid
• easily fatigued or constantly fatigued
• hyper-excitability

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Paraphernalia indicators
possession of hypodermic needles, balloons,
aluminum foil wrappers, mirrors or flat metal,
short straws, glass pipes, smoking pipes,
capsules, vials, or folded paper envelopes, a
cigarette lighter (or small butane torch) when
carried by a known "non-smoker, counter-culture
media (magazines, websites, music, posters,
etc) Drug possession itself! Do you really
believe (s)he is holding onto it for a friend??!!
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Thank You