By Rupert Howell
When one door is closed, another seems to open, according to Panola County Drug Task Force officers Bill Magee and Gray Nickles.

They were referring to the 2013 law that prohibited the unrestricted sales of sudafed, a drug used as a component to making methamphetamine or crack. To many in law enforcement, the law was a no-brainer and had an almost instant impact on the number of meth labs found in the area.

“We haven’t called the Haz-Mat team in about three years,” Magee said of the disappearance of meth labs brought about with sudafed purchase restrictions. The conglomeration of ingredients could produce a hazardous substance that required professional clean up costing the government thousands of dollars each time a lab was found.

But then another door opens. It’s meth but called “ice” or “glass” and is made in super labs out west in California, Texas, Mexico or Arkansas according to Magee and Nickles.
Magee said he knew of no “ice” labs yet to be found in Mississippi.

Magee explained that ice is much “cleaner drug” than meth made locally in “shake and bake” operations.

“Shake and bake is about getting high,” according to Magee who said, “Ice is about making money.”

The Task Force officers then explained that by limiting the amount of sudafed the do-it-yourselfers could acquire, “We’ve just forced them to find different ways to get their dope.”
The local ice market is being fed by distributors out west with the Task Force officers saying some is coming from gangs such as Aryan Nation and Simon City Royals, both predominantly white gangs.

And Magee said most, if not all, arrested on the methamphetamine charges are white. He noted that he heard criticism during a recent mass arrest of mostly black suspects on marijuana sales charges that resulted as a by product of the Jessica Chambers’ investigation.

“I assure you we don’t go out to arrest a certain race,” Magee said. “We do go after certain drugs though,” and explained that ice was a preferred drug of many white abusers.

The Task Force in 2015 has recorded 36 possession cases and eight counts of sale of ice with assistance from Batesville and Senatobia Police Departments according to Magee who noted that all had been listed in the jail log, but some may face additional charges of which he was not yet ready to reveal pending Grand Jury action.

“And we are working other stuff,” Magee said but, “Methamphetamine (the ice version) is really something that hit us in the last year or so.”

He and Nickles are really “afraid” that an uptick in heroin across the nation, “will do the same thing.”

Along with the good news that precursor type use is “out,” the Task Force officers also note that prescription drug abuse charges are down, crediting agencies with tightening down on the sources.

Magee also noted that two additional K-9 officers have been moved to the Drug Task Force, indicating Sheriff Dennis Darby is behind their efforts and sees the need increase illegal drug enforcement.