By: Staff Reports Bee Papers To Publish Special Report Over Weekend
(Mediaweek) The Sacramento, Fresno, and Modesto Bee newspapers plan an 18-page special report Sunday, Oct. 8, examining the crisis caused by the burgeoning manufacture and use of methamphetamine in California's Central Valley.
"A Madness Called Meth, " the result of an investigation by more than a dozen journalists from the McClatchy Co. papers, is scheduled to be distributed in more than 650,000 copies.
"Methamphetamine is the worst drug that has ever hit America. A ferociously addictive drug that is spreading," U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey said last July during a visit to Fresno. "It's hard to imagine overstating the magnitude of the meth problem."
Federal law enforcement agents believe that as much as 80% of the country's methamphetamine is made in California, and the number of illegal labs found in the state has more than tripled in five years. More than 95% of labs capable of producing more than 20 pounds of meth in one cooking were busted in California during 1999, many of them in the 17-county Central Valley area from Redding to Bakersfield.
The newspapers report how their region became a hot spot of the U.S. meth trade, the rising costs of law enforcement, the human toll, and how toxic chemicals used in manufacturing have contaminated soil and water. The report also shows how state and federal governments have been slow to regulate the cleanup and lax in funding law enforcement and drug treatment.
Bee reporters found kids to be disproportionately impacted., since they are found at the potentially explosive meth cooking sites, where they are exposed to lethal chemicals and fumes. When their parents are arrested, many wind up in foster care, some permanently, and social workers in some counties say families involved with meth make up the majority of their caseloads - sometimes close to 90%.
The special report will also be posted starting Oct. 8 on the three newspapers' Web sites: fresnobee.com, sacbee.com, and modbee.com.
Copyright 2000, Editor & Publisher.
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