METHAMPHETAMINE: FROM THE STREETS OF SAN DIEGO

 

                                                         

Helicoptor sound-up:                             

Tank footage/Tank noise/Sirens

Police megaphone sound-up:                    ŅThis is the San Diego Police Department, Everybody get out of the street and go back in your house.Ó

 

                                                          IN 1995, A THIRTY-FIVE YEAR OLD PLUMBER DROVE A TANK DOWN THE STREETS OF SAN DIEGO.

                                           

 

Dissolve to Bus footage: (night)

helicoptor, sirens                                  

Newscaster:                                           ŅOh my God, he almost ran over that carÉ

                                                         

                                                          IN 1997, A THIRTY-SIX YEAR OLD MAN HIJACKED A SAN DIEGO CITY TRANSIT BUS.

sirens fading

Bus footage dissolve to:

Veronica Gonzalez in court:

(from news footage)                               

Newscaster:                                           ŅVeronica Gonzalez cried silently as she learned she would be executedÉ

                                                         

IN 1998, VERONICA GONZALEZ WAS SENTENCED TO DEATH BY A SAN DIEGO JURY.

 

 

 

LAURA BIRKMEYER, CHIEF

NARCOTICS ENFORCEMENT

SECTION

U.S.ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

Birkmeyer o/c to V/o:                             "There is one common denominator between a tank being driven down 163, a bus being hijacked and

Tank, bus & Gonzalez                            some of the depraved acts of domestic

                                                          violence.  That common denominator is

                                                          methamphetamine.

Tank  footage:                                         Methamphetamine is a huge problem in San Diego."

 

 

 

TITLE SEQUENCE:

 

Methamphetamine: From the Streets of San Diego

 

 

 

 

 

 

w/s San Diego:                              IN THE 1980ÕS, SAN DIEGO WAS THE METH CAPITAL OF THE NATION - THE CENTER FOR METH MANUFACTURING AND USE. METHAMPHETAMINE WAS KNOWN AS ŅBLUE COLLARÓ OR THE WORKING MANÕS COCAINE.  BUT NOW, A MUCH STRONGER FORM OF METH IS ON THE STREET AND IT IS THE DRUG OF CHOICE FOR A NEW GENERATION OF TWEAKERS.

S. ALEX STALCUP, M.D.

DIRECTOR, NEW LEAF

TREATMENT CENTER                      Stalcup:

                                                          This is, for all intents and purposes a new drug.  It goes by a lot of names, but itÕs all the same, some places call it crank, some places call it speed...//

Shot of drug:                                        some of the newer terms are meth, methamphetamine, crystal.  It's a white powder, made in a lab, simple to make, cheap to make, you can make it from ingredients that you can get in a drug store and, it is everywhere!

 

Shots of drug/labs:                                 METH IS AN AMPHETAMINE-TYPE STIMULANT.  IT IS THE LEADER IN A NEW WAVE OF ILLEGAL DRUGS WHICH ARE CHEMICALLY MANUFACTURED, OR SYNTHETIC. THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, METH AND ITS CHEMICAL COUSINS, ARE ABUSED BY MORE PEOPLE THAN COCAINE AND HEROIN COMBINED.

 

Jail/Juv. Hall footage:                             IN SAN DIEGO, METHAMPHETAMINE IS

                                                          THE DOMINANT DRUG PROBLEM. COURTS, TREATMENT CENTERS, EMERGENCY ROOMS AND JAILS ARE FLOODED WITH METH-RELATED CASES.           

                                                         

LAURA BIRKMEYER, CHIEF

NARCOTICS ENFORCEMENT

SECTION

U.S.ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

                                                          LAURA BIRKMEYER:

O/c to V/o:                                           Methamphetamine definitely crosses class and race and age barriers.// You can find methamphetamine easily in the school-age population. Older people use it. Young woman use it to lose weight.

B-Roll shots of people on street:              Very upstanding citizens may start to use methamphetamine. Some people who are very gainfully employed use meth at first just to stay awake, to be able to move more quickly and, they think, more efficiently in their jobs; and then all of a sudden they realize they're hooked, and instead of an enhancement they've got a problem.

 

                                                          OVER THE PAST DECADE, A NEW MANUFACTURING PROCESS HAS CREATED AN ESPECIALLY POWERFUL FORM OF THE DRUG.

DEA meth lab, smoking footage:          LIKE COCAINE, METH CAN BE SNORTED, SHOT WITH A NEEDLE OR SMOKED. THE SMOKEABLE FORM OF THE NEW METH IS SO POTENT, EXPERTS SAY 90% OF PEOPLE WHO

DEA meth addict footage:                  TRY IT WILL BECOME ADDICTED WITHIN SIX WEEKS.

 

                                                          STALCUP:

                                            Why do people use this drug? Well the answer is very simple, it makes you like it, it makes you like it.  It activates the chemistry of liking, namely the chemical dopamine. And the amount of pleasure you can get, you canÕt get naturally. So people get a super normal, supernatural type of pleasure.

 

ADDICT #1- t9 p1                                ...it was a feeling that - I fell in love with - you know -   first off - you know

                                                          I just had to have more - I had to have more Š and the feeling just get being worse and worse to where I had to have it all cost to where I was stealing for it - to where I was - I was doing anything to get it.

 

                                                         

KYLE: 19 YEAR OLD ADDICT          

                                                          It made me feel like I was on top of the world, It made me feel like everybody else was completely inferior to me. It made me feel like I was smarter and faster and, you know, it made me feel like I could talk to people and be funny. It made me feel like I could do anything I wanted to, you knowÉ I could do anything.

 

KEN HARTMAN,

DRUG REHABILITATION COUNSELOR @ CRASH

                                                          Meth works on the pleasure center of the brain. And  people that havenÕt done meth, really donÕt know how to put that in a context. And I guess for people that don't know that you can say youÕve had an orgasm and multiply it by 20, then you would kind of get the effect of what methÕs about.

                                                         

                                            STALCUP:

                                                            When the pleasure from methamphetamine wears off, all youÕre left with is the fight or flight sensation.  ThatÕs all you got.  Fight or flight means youÕre hyper-vigilant. YouÕre looking for trouble.

                                                            You think there's maybe danger looking around at you.  You're beginning to get the next major symptom

                                                            of methamphetamine use, namely paranoia.

 

Cameron Taylor arrest:

Police sound-up:                                     ŅGet on the ground, get on the ground!Ó 

 

                                                         

                                                          WHEN CAMERON TAYLOR HIJACKED A SAN DIEGO CITY BUS IN FEBRUARY 1997,  HE WAS AT THE END OF A 4-DAY METH BINGE.

 

Cameron sound-up:                                TheyÕre gonna kill me goddammit!  Help me!

 

AT HIS HEARING, EXPERTS TESTIFIED HE HAD BEEN IN A METH-INDUCED, PARANOID DELUSION.

 

Cameron sound-up:                                Oh man, aaahhhh!

 

CAMERON BELIEVED THAT MOTORCYCLE GANGS WERE GOING TO KILL HIM.

Cameron  being put into police

car. c/u  sound-up:                                 ŅI swear to God 2 cops gotÉ,theyÕre gonna kill me!Ó

                                                          ŅOh, IÕm a dead man.Ó

 

                                            IRONICALLY, CAMERONÕS DELUSION ABOUT

Freeze on Cameron:                                THE BIKERS REFLECTED A CRITICAL PERIOD OF METHAMPHETAMINE HISTORY.

                                                                                 

         DR. STALCUP:

                                                          If you look at the history of the drug, certainly the origin of our problems began in World War II where the drug, there are many people say had

WWII ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE :              military applications, was used during the war.

Bombs sound up

                                                          IN THE 1940ÕS, GERMAN, JAPANESE AND AMERICAN MILITARIES EXPERIMENTED WITH EARLY FORMS OF METHAMPHETAMINE TO FIND WAYS TO KEEP SOLDIERS ALERT AND FEELING INVINCIBLE.  AMERICAN BOMBER PILOTS WERE GIVEN FORMS OF SPEED TO STAY AWAKE ON THE LONG FLIGHTS, LIKE THOSE FROM SAIPAN TO JAPAN. MANY OTHER AMERICAN MILITARY PERSONNEL WERE INTRODUCED

Post WWII footage:                                TO METHAMPHETAMINE DURING THE POST-WAR YEARS IN JAPAN.

                                           

                                            STALCUP cont.

                                            At  the end of the war, the Japanese methamphetamine epidemic was really quite widespread. It was probably the first major drug epidemic the world had ever seen, was Japan at the end of World War II.  Lots of American military personnel, men and women, became involved in methamphetamine. And when they mustered out of the military, we saw a spread of methamphetamine use from Japan to the Marshall Islands to the

Returning soldiers, sailors to SD:             Philippines, Guam, Hawaii and then the first sight on the mainland was really San Diego because this was the major transshipment route that folks coming out of the military from the Pacific Theater came through San Diego. So San Diego is really first hit.

 

Archival post war photos:                  THE MILITARY PROVIDED A STRUCTURE AND CAMARADERIE THAT WAS DIFFICULT TO DUPLICATE IN CIVILIAN LIFE, SO MANY VETERANS FORMED ASSOCIATIONS, OR CLUBS. A SMALL NUMBER

Bomber nose art:                                   OF THESE CLUBS EVOLVED INTO ŅOUTLAWÓ BIKER GANGS.

 

SOT: Harley starting

Potter on Harley 

CHUCK POTTER

SPECIAL AGENT

CALIFORNIA BUREAU OF

NARCOTICS ENFORCEMENT:

Archival biker footage:

                                                          POTTER:

                                                          In those days, for lack of a better term, they were a pretty wild and crazy bunch. They were looking for fun, speed, and that term speed became synonymous

Sound-up HarleyÕs:                                with methamphetamine. But they also liked speed on

60Õs Pennybaker film footage:                  their Harleys and looking for that eternal rush the

(going to Monterey Pop)                         speed on their bikes produced and when they're off the bikes, the speed produced by the methamphetamine helped to continue that feeling of euphoria, being able to walk through walls, at least the feeling of being able to walk through walls. ItÕs a pretty powerful drug and it produces a powerful euphoria and a feeling of being,  you know, Ņbullet proofÓ basically.    

 

Õ79 S.D. HAÕs/Biker file footage:             FOR MUCH OF THE BIKER WORLD,

                                            METH WAS THE TICKET TO WILD

shots of speed pills:                               TIMES AND MONEY. PILLS CALLED WHITE CROSSES, REDS AND BLACK BEAUTIES WERE OFTEN EARLY FORMS OF METHAMPHETAMINE. THE BIKERS POPPED THEM LIKE CANDY IN THEIR

More HAÕs/SD Biker file footage:             INFAMOUS PARTIES OF THE 60ÕS AND 70ÕS. THESE WERE METHÕS GATEWAY TO THE PUBLIC AT LARGE.  BY THE 1980ÕS

                                             METHAMPHETAMINE WAS BIG BUSINESS.

 

ŅBILLÓ

FORMER METH COOK

                                            BILL: 

V/o to o/c:                                            I first started making methamphetamine in 1979///

                                                          I cooked probably, approximately every 3 weeks, made $25 to $40,000, and I started to enjoy making money, making a large amount of money. And it was easy, it was really easy (laughing) very easy.

 

More S.D./HAÕs Biker file footage:           BILL WAS NEVER A BIKER, BUT BIKER GANGÕS PROFITTED FROM METH THAT BILL AND OTHERS MADE BY CONTROLLING  DISTRIBUTION OF THE DRUG.

                                                         

Pan East County:                                   THE BIKERÕS STRONGHOLD WAS SAN DIEGOÕS EAST COUNTY, PLACES LIKE

City signs:                                           LAKESIDE, SANTEE AND EL CAJON.  FROM HERE, THE BIKERS RULED THE BUSINESS OF METHAMPHETAMINE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FROM THE 1960ÕS TO THE 1980ÕS.                

 

New TNS bust footage:

 (cops in silhouette):                               BUT IN 1989, ALL THAT CHANGED.

  

                                            BIRKMEYER:

Dissolve to O/C:                                   ...Operation // Triple Neck was an undercover operation where a law enforcement officer along with a confidential informant and others worked in a chemical supply business...

                                                          What would happen is people would come into the

archival footage of front desk                   undercover store front//

and people at Triple Neck store                 and purchase chemicals, and they would engage in discussion about methamphetamine manufacture, just as they had done in other businesses with the person they believed to be the owner and the person they believed to be working in the store. And all of their conversations and the items they purchased were caught on tape.

                                                       

                                                         

SOUND-UP HIDDEN CAMERA FOOTAGE

Meth cook passes bag of meth

To Chuck Potter

                                                          Potter: How long did it take you to cook it?

                                                          Meth cook: About 42 hours

                                             Potter: 42?        

                                                            Meth cook: uh huh.

 

V/o over hidden camera footage:               CHUCK POTTER WAS THE UNDERCOVER AGENT WHO WORKED IN THE STORE.  HE BROUGHT MANY AN UNSUSPECTING METH COOK INTO HIS BACKROOM.

 

v/o to o/c:                                            POTTER:

                                                          ...it went for 9 months, with me being in the store on

                                                          a daily basis until March of 1989 when we closed the store, got our indictments put together,  put targeted packages together, and we had the largest single roundup in San Diego County history.

 

 

 

Archival footage:                                  

CALIFORNIA STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL

JOHN VAN DE KAMP

March 20, 1989                                   

TNS Press Conference                            ŅIndeed, this was the largest single drug enforcement action ever undertaken against illicit drug manufacturers in the United States.  And I must tell you that based on what IÕve heard today and yesterday, it was an extraordinary, unqualified successÓ

 

        

Triple Neck news footage of arrests:          TRIPLE NECK WAS A TRIUMPH FOR LAW

Sound-up police:                                   ENFORCEMENT, BUT IT ALSO CREATED AN OPENING IN THE METH TRADE. ONCE

Pan from TJ to INS Bronco                     AGAIN SAN DIEGO WAS IN A PIVOTAL LOCATION FOR THE BUSINESS OF METHAMPHETAMINE.

 

                                            BIRKMEYER:

O/c:                                                     With great efficiency, Mexican cartels began to take over the manufacturing of methamphetamine throughout San Diego County and elsewhere in California.

 

                                            THE MEXICAN

N. County pan                             CARTELS CENTERED THEIR METH PRODUCTION IN THE RURAL FARMLANDS AND AVOCADO GROVES OF SAN DIEGOÕS NORTH COUNTY, ACRES AND ACRES

w/shots of groves, migrants in field:       OF REMOTE AREAS WITH EASY ACCESS TO CHEAP MIGRANT LABOR.

 

                                            THE MOST NOTABLE OF THE MEXICAN METH

                                                          ORGANIZATIONS ARE THOSE CONTROLLED

Wanted poster of Ramon Arreleno:            BY THE ARRELANO-FELIX FAMILY AND THE GUADALAJARA BASED AMEZCUA

Photos of Amezcua Brothers:                   CONTRERAS BROTHERS. 

                                                         

THESE ORGANIZATIONS NOW CONTROL METHAMPHETAMINE AS THE COLOMBIAN CARTELS CONTROLLED COCAINE.

MIKE KELLY,

CALIFORNIA BUREAU OF NARCOTICS

ENFORCEMENT                               

v/o to o/c:                                            TheyÕre highly armed, theyÕre absolutely fearless.  They will not hesitate to use violence, //And they

Guns:                                                  carry big guns, assault rifles, automatic, fully automatic weapons.

                                           

Police hidden camera footage of                MEXICAN LABS PRODUCE AS MUCH AS 200

Mexican meth lab/cook                    POUNDS OF METHAMPHETAMINE AT A COOK. THEIR ORGANIZATIONS HAVE ESTABLISHED DRUG SMUGGLING CORRIDORS TO DISTRIBUTE METH AND ITS PRECURSOR  CHEMICALS. METHAMPHETAMINE HAS NOW SPREAD FROM SAN DIEGO THROUGHOUT

Meth Headlines from heartland:                CALIFORNIA, ACROSS THE MIDWEST AND INTO THE AMERICAN HEARTLAND. 

 

W/s San Diego pan:                               SAN DIEGO IS NO LONGER THE METH CAPITAL OF THE NATION. BUT IT IS WHAT LAW ENFORCEMENT CALLS A SOURCE COUNTRY FOR METH, MEANING A CRITICAL

INS Bronco overlooking TJ:                    STAGING POINT FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF CHEMICALS AND METHAMPHETAMINE TO THE REST OF THE UNITED STATES.

                                           

                                            BIRKMEYER:

o/c:                                                     There is also a very significant second type of cook, or operator, and those are the smaller, what some people call "stove-top cooks," that is, they do it in their home, generally, where Mexican national labs

Police footage of labs:                            are done in rural areas, sheds, farms, places like

                                                          that, the stove-top cook would be done in somebody's backyard, in their garage, in their

                                                          kitchen on top of their stove.

                                                         

                                                          THE HOME, OR STOVE-TOP LABS CAN VARY IN SIZE. MOST ARE PRIMITIVE, OFTEN USING SIMPLE RECIPES TAKEN RIGHT OFF

Internet meth recipe:                               THE INTERNET, AND INCORPORATING

Shots of chemicals:                                CHEMICALS SUCH AS RED DEVIL LYE, ACETONE, EVEN BATTERY ACID.

 

Move to sign in drug store:                       IN RECENT YEARS, LOCAL, STATE AND FEDERAL LAWS HAVE BEEN ENACTED TO RESTRICT SOME OF THE CHEMICALS USED TO MAKE METH.

S.D MAYOR SUSAN GOLDING

PRESS CONFERENCE, JUNE 1998:     

The anti-meth production ordinance will make it unlawful for any person to purchase more than three packages, or more than 100 count of any of this type of legal over the counter medication that does contain ephedrineÉ

                                                         

                                                          BIRKMEYER:

                                                          The most popular methamphetamine

Shots of Sudafed etc on shelves:               manufacturing process now is what is known as the Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine reduction method.

                                                       

                                                          If you could look at the bulk quantities of pseudoephedrine tablets, for instance that pour into San Diego County and elsewhere in California, you would be shocked. There is no way on this Earth that you could have that much postnasal drip or cold symptoms in one particular community.

 

Pan of chemicals:                                   LIKE PSEUDOEPHEDRINE, MANY OF THE

Can of alcohol:                                      CHEMICALS USED TO MAKE METHAMPHETAMINE HAVE LEGITIMATE USES. THIS HAS MADE LAWS TO RESTRICT ACCESS TO THESE CHEMICALS

Shot of drug:                                        DIFFICULT TO ENFORCE.  AND THERE ARE TOO MANY WAYS TO MAKE METH.

                                                                     

                                                          BIRKMEYER:

O/C:                                                    One of the biggest problems with attempting to stop a methamphetamine manufacturer by denying access to certain chemicals is that cooks are very clever, and they immediately look for a substitute ingredient.

 

                                                          BILL T4B P3

o/c:                                        There is always gonna be a way for them to adapt. //

Police meth lab footage:                          When they stop one synthetic route of making methamphetamine, theyÕll stop it but thereÕs sure gonna be another way thatÕs gonna become

O/C:                                                    predominant. //The demand is too great.

 

B-roll Bill on street:                       TO PROTECT HIS PRIVACY, BILL ASKED THAT WE NOT USE HIS NAME IN THIS STORY. HE NOW WORKS AT A LOCAL DRUG TREATMENT CENTER, BUT FOR 12 YEARS, HE MANUFACTURED LARGE AMOUNTS OF METHAMPHETAMINE IN SAN DIEGO.

 

                                            BILL:

o/c:                                                     ItÕs a feeling of power actually, itÕs a feeling of success, control, and thereÕs like a certain amount of magic involved. //

I would put the chemicals in// and I know that just by putting those chemicals in, and adding heat to it, that itÕs going to turn into money.  ItÕs like counterfeiting kinda, itÕs kinda like, I would smell the smells of the chemicals, I would put them together, put them together, and it was like exciting, itÕs like counterfeiting almost, itÕs money, put it in, I smell it, and I know thatÕs money, here it comes, the money is coming.

 

Meth lab explosion footage:                     COOKING METHAMPHETAMINE IS  EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. IF THE SLIGHTEST ERROR IS MADE, THE ENTIRE LAB, HOME, OR APARTMENT CAN EXPLODE.

 

                                            BILL:

                                                           I would start out thinking clearly, and the more fumes I would breathe, and the closer I got to having an end product of methamphetamine, I would a, become so high on the fumes, that I would be delusional.

 

                                            BIRKMEYER:

O/c:                                        First off, you have a very volatile chemical reaction thatÕs occurring, and secondly, you have somebody who, if they're using the drug, is sleepless, paranoid, and probably not thinking clearly. So if they believe that somebody perhaps is watching them or violating the rules of the methamphetamine operation, they could be very dangerous.

                                           

                                            BILL:

We wanted to be ready, we actually had sat down and talked about if anything comes down, we are not gonna be taken alive. If the police come, weÕre just gonna, weÕre just gonna shoot it out. You know, we donÕt want to go to jail for the rest of our lives. 

 

Escondido shoot-out footage:                   WHILE HIGH ON METH, GARY TASCHNER  SHOT IT OUT WITH THE ESCONDIDO POLICE AND A SWAT TEAM. 

                                               

Gary gets shot to death:                          HE WAS NOT TAKEN ALIVE.

           

Clean-up men in moon suits:              IN 1996, THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY DISMANTLED 63 METHAMPHETAMINE LABS

Tilt to w/s:                                           IN SAN DIEGO... BUT THESE LABS ARE NOT JUST IN THE EAST AND NORTH COUNTIES ANYMORE.

 

                                                         

BIRKMEYER:

                                                          If you took out a map of San Diego to point out every place where methamphetamine//was // made, you would find the places that you would think ordinarily, North County, East County. What would shock you though is that you would also find it in very well-to-do neighborhoods, University Heights,

Montage: Shots of towns named              La Jolla, Pacific Beach, certainly the South Bay area,

or signs identifying towns :

 

                                            BILL:

                                                          Mira Mesa, Kearny Mesa, Chula Vista, El CajonÉ

 

                                                          BIRKMEYER:

Map graphic which goes red:                    If you were to put a red dot on every home or business or place that was affected by either methamphetamine manufacturer or methamphetamine use, the whole city of San Diego would be covered with red dots.// ItÕs pervasive throughout San Diego County.

                                            

                                            

BILL:

O/c:                                                      You canÕt tell who's manufacturing, who's doing these things among everyone. It could be your next door neighbor because I was a lot of peopleÕs next door neighbor.              

 

                                                          KYLE:

o/c:                                                       I started using meth in ninth grade. And at first I thought it was God send.

 

Group of kids on street:                            IN 1997, NEARLY 20% OF TEENS ENTERING

Juv. Hall cafeteria:                                   JUVENILE HALL IN SAN DIEGO TESTED POSTIVE FOR METHAMPHETAMINE.

Kyle on street:                                        KYLE IS NINETEEN YEARS OLD.  HEÕS BEEN IN DRUG TREATMENT FOR 3 MONTHS.

 

                                                                     

:

                                            Kyle cont.

V/o to o/c:                                            Prior to my use I had always been isolated and alone. I had very few friends. I was overweight and did extremely poorly in school. And as soon as I started using crystal, I felt like everything changed almost overnight.

 

                                                          All of a sudden I had the energy to do everything that I wanted to. I could go to parties, I could talk to people, I could make friends, I could talk to girls. I could start getting good grades, and I had never gotten good grades before and all of a sudden I could get A's and B's easily

                                                         

ŅVistaÓ sign:                                         KYLE KNOWS HE CAN BUY METH ALL OVER SAN DIEGO, BUT HE TOOK US HOME, TO VISTA.

 

                                                          KYLE:

O/C:                                                    If you wanted to buy meth in Vista, there is a street called Santa Fe // about a block away from Vista

Pan of Santa Fe Ave community:             High, and the whole community around Vista High was made up primarily of tweakers//

O/c:                                                     There was a house that we used to call it the store. And at the store there was a window that was either

                                                          opened or closed. If the window was open, then the store was open. If the window was closed, then the store was closed. And behind the window was an old Mexican guy with a rifle who dealt crystal.  And youÕd just go up there twenty-four hours a day and put your money through the window and heÕd give you your crystal back.

Santa Fe drive-by:                         It seemed sometimes like every third house was a

Cutaways: kid on bike/on phone:              drug house.  Everybody you saw on the street was either dealing or using or involved in some way with

Kyle walking down storefront                  the process.  At least thatÕs how it seemed to me

he used to deliver meth to:                      being in that world.

 

                                                          KYLE IS LUCKY, HE LIVED IN THE WORLD OF METHAMPHETAMINE AND AVOIDED

SERIOUS INJURY. BUT METH IS A FACTOR IN MANY OF THE VIOLENT

SDU-T Violent meth headlines                 CRIMES IN SAN DIEGO.

 

                                                          ONE OF THE MOST TRAGIC OF THESE

W/S Main Street Chula Vista:                  CASES, WAS IN CHULA VISTA.                    

 

                                                          IN 1995 LAW ENFORCEMENT RESPONDED TO A CALL FOR HELP AT

dissolve: police footage of apt.                 1430 HILLTOP DRIVE.

                                                         

w/crime scene cordoned off w/tape

police video of interior of apt.              APARTMENT #7 WAS THE HOME OF VERONICA AND IVAN GONZALEZ AND

Video of kids laughing w/VG                  THEIR 6 CHILDREN. THE FAMILY OF

Stills of Gonzalez family together             EIGHT LIVED TOGETHER IN THE 2 BEDROOM APARTMENT. FOR SEVERAL MONTHS, VERONICAÕS NIECE, 4 YEAR OLD GENNY ROJAS, HAD ALSO BEEN LIVING WITH THEM.

 

More Gonzalez stills & footage            GENNYÕS MOTHER MARY WAS A METH ADDICT AND HAD ENTERED A DRUG  TREATMENT CENTER SO GENNY HAD GONE TO STAY WITH HER AUNT AND UNCLE.

 

                                            NO ONE KNOWS FOR SURE EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED IN THE 4 MONTHS THAT GENNY LIVED WITH THE GONZALEZES.  WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS SHE WAS HUNG BY HER WRISTS

Police video of hook in closet:                 TO A HOOK IN THE CLOSET... FOR HOURS.

 

Police video of kids bed on floor:             SHE DID NOT SLEEP WITH THE OTHER CHILDREN ON A CLEAN BLANKET ON THE BEDROOM FLOOR.  GENNY

Police video of GennyÕs blanket               SLEPT ON A FECES COVERED

                                                          BLANKET BEHIND A DOOR.

                                                         

Still of Genny in bumblebee suit              AND WE KNOW THAT ON JULY 21ST,

Dissolbe to Still of bath tub                    GENNY DIED, FROM A BATH SO HOT THAT SHE LOST MOST OF THE SKIN FROM HER LOWER BODY.

 

News arrest footage:                               ON THE NIGHT OF GENNYÕS DEATH, IVAN AND VERONICA GONZALEZ WERE ARRESTED.  THAT SAME NIGHT, THEY BOTH TESTED

Push on still of Ivan:                              POSITIVE FOR METHAMPHETAMINE.

 

Courtroom footage:                                IVAN AND VERONICA GONZALEZ HAVE BEEN FOUND GUILTY FOR THE MURDER OF GENNY ROJAS. THEY HAVE  BEEN

Leaving court, kiss good-bye:                  SENTENCED TO DEATH BY 2 SAN DIEGO JURIES.

 

                                            STALCUP:

O/C:                                                    People need to understand that these horrible acts of violence are being committed by people whose brains are changed.  They see things differently than you and I do.  Their brains are working differently.  They believe themselves to be in danger.  They believe themselves to be threatened, and they take action against the imagined threat and that action is violent and it's disproportionate to anything rational that you can imagine.  It's not reasonable.  It's not rational.  It's irrational drug-driven, distorted thinking that tragically is violent, more violent than your stomach could take.

           

Street scenes:                                        AS METHAMPHETAMINE MAKES ITS WAY

Tilt to Meth Violence Billboard:              ACROSS THE COUNTRY, COMMUNITIES ARE MOUNTING CAMPAIGNS TO SHIELD THEMSELVES FROM ITS DESTRUCTIVE

Cameron footage:                                   POWER. BUT THE GRIP OF THIS DRUG IS NOT

Kyle walking thru field:                          EASILY BROKEN. OVERCOMING IT MAY ULTIMATELY COME DOWN TO THOUSANDS OF INDIVIDUAL, AND DEEPLY PERSONAL BATTLES.

        

KYLE:

                                                          When I get out of treatment I don't know exactly what I'm going to do or where I'm going to go. I don't know where I'm going to live or what kind of job I'm going to have.  I'm not really even sure what I'm going to be like. It'll be the first time in my life where I tried to experience life without using crystal//

Drive-by of Old Vista:                            I know that every time I drive around in North County, IÕm going to be passing by houses I used to buy or

O/c:                                                     smoke crystal at.//ItÕs so deeply ingrained in me, it's not something I can just forget about. But, I think I can do it now.

 

                                                          BILL:

O/C:                                       I donÕt know, somehow, somehow itÕs kind of ironic, because I was involved in that

Pan of meth addicts at CRASH:               and I didnÕt ever see the end-users that much, the people that it really got to, the families that got

Tilt from hands to face of addict:              involved, the kids, the adultsÉ

 

O/C:                                                    ItÕs kind of like a burden you carry, really, like a burden, because, a lot of people I-I have no idea how many people, were affected by what I did.  But IÕm sure it was a lot... IÕm sure.

 

MUSIC - DIP TO BLACK

 

STATS SCROLLED IN BLACK OVER DRIVE-ALONG OF VISTA STREETS (FILTERED)

 

IN 1997, OVER 8,600 ARRESTS WERE MADE FOR THE SALE AND POSSESSION OF METHAMPHETAMINE IN SAN DIEGO.

                                   

IN THE LAST QUARTER OF 1997, 50% OF WOMEN AND 40% OF MEN BOOKED INTO SAN DIEGOÕS PRISONS TESTED POSITIVE FOR METH.

                                                         

 

IN THE UNITED STATES, BETWEEN 1996 AND 1997, THE NUMBER OF TEENAGERS WHO HAD USED METHAMPHEMTAMINE DOUBLED.

 

 

CREDIT ROLE OVER VISTA DRIVE ALONGS