Drug Makers Make Meth Out of their Own PissMeth addicts don't throw away their piss -- they extract the meth from their very own urine and resell it.
It's been labeled a living death. It's an addiction that causes violent mood swings, internal bleeding and brittle bones.
It is methamphetamine, often called meth.
Meth comes in a variety of forms.
Pills, capsules, powder or crystal-like chunks.
Meth can be inhaled, ingested, smoked, even snorted.
Users will also recycle, and not for the good of the environment.
As laws change to make life more difficult for dealers and junkies, so too are the methods being used to get the man-made drug.
If you want to know how far a methamphetamine addict will go to get high, just ask Tiffanie Bassett.
"I went to any lengths to get it, I can say there wasn't anything I didn't do for it," said Bassett.
Every day for six years, she made her meth addiction her life.
At one point, she even stayed in the same room for nine months.
"I would pee in a cup and I would throw it out the window," said Bassett.
David Chandler, with the Marshall County Drug Task Force, tells WAFF 48 News that the stuff Tiffanie would throw out is another way some meth users are getting high.
"The guys that are cooking basically extract the methamphetamine from the urine out, and they turn around and sell it to the users again," said Chandler.
Chandler heads up the drug task force.
He worked his first urine meth lab in 2005.
"Just gallon pickle jars full of urine!"
From pickle jars, to two-liters, even kiddie pools.
"It's sick that people would use methamphetamine that's been extracted out of urine," said Chandler.
A sick sight but not surprising to Chandler or anyone who's been involved in the realm of meth, including Tiffanie Bassett.
"There were times that I didn't use the bathroom for two or three days, and when I did it was really yellow and real thick, and that was just the meth with the urine coming out."
"So yeah, I can see," added Bassett.
Chandler said the only way a junkie's body rids itself of the drug is through your bowels, blood, or the body.
"If we take them to the county jail, other meth addicts in the jail will actually come up and pick the scabs off and eat the meth off them. They can actually get a buzz from eating off someone else's body," said Chandler.
Chandler said he's never talked to an addict who cares.
"They're worried about methamphetamine, they're not worried about their lives, about their jobs, about their kids, it's just sad," added Chandler.
Bassett didn't care either.
"I went to jail seven times, and every time I got out I wanted more."
"I looked about 70, I had wrinkles, gray hair, the meth also rotted out all my teeth. Today I have dentures because of it," Bassett said.
But today, Bassett is looking to make amends with herself, her family, and her faith.
"I was probably one of the worst addicts there is, and by the grace of God I'm alive today," added Bassett. Tiffanie's son Jimmy is three and a half months old.
She also has a 21 year old son who is back in her life now that she's clean.
Bassett also works with the Partnership for a Drug Free Dekalb to support prevention and recovery efforts in the community.
If you suspect someone is involved with meth, and especially if you believe children are endangered, call the See Meth, Stop Meth tip line at 1-866-303-METH.
The line has received more than one thousand tips since it began.
.Cripple drug lord caged for 10 years
A quadriplegic whose disability was compared to the late Superman actor Christopher Reeve, has been jailed for up to 10 years for conspiring to manufacture ecstasy.
Paul Baker, 36, of Colyton in Sydney's west, is the first quadriplegic in NSW history to receive a full-time custodial sentence.
District Court Judge Robert Toner's decision last Wednesday will force jail authorities to spend thousands of dollars modifying a cell for Baker - once they find a prison that can accommodate his considerable needs.
The NSW Department of Corrective Services has admitted it is yet to find a permanent jail cell for Baker, who is morbidly obese and needs 98 hours of care per fortnight, which will be provided by an independent care agency.
He cannot eat, drink, go to the toilet or wash by himself and requires a hoist to transfer him to bed from his motorized wheelchair - which he controls with a slight movement in one hand.
In court, Baker's lawyer compared his condition to that of Christopher Reeve, who became a quadriplegic after a horse-riding accident and died in 2004.
"We set up a committee to deal with (Baker) because we knew he would probably be getting a custodial sentence," a Corrective Services spokesman said.
"At the moment he is in Long Bay (jail) hospital in the aged-care and frailty unit. He'll be in there for an assessment and planning period while we look at various jails to figure out which would be most suitable to cope with his level of disability."
The department said it would cost about $200,000 per year to look after Baker, double the cost of an average "secure" prisoner.
Some $4000 was spent on modifying a truck to convey him from court to jail last week. It will be used again when, and if, authorities decide to relocate him.
His cell will have to be fitted with a hoist, special furniture and air-conditioning because Baker can no longer control his own body temperature, authorities said.
A former director of import companies, Baker pleaded guilty in 2007 to one count of conspiring with three other men to manufacture one ton of ecstasy.
The court heard that Baker ordered importation of glassware used in the manufacture of the drug and a pill press found in his home. These were also used in a clandestine lab at Badgerys Creek.
The drug was to be manufactured with other chemicals and combined with 11 200-liter containers of methyl amine, imported from China in 2005.
Police moved in before any drugs were made, the court heard. Judge Toner sentenced Baker to a maximum of 10 years six months, with a non-parole period of three years and six months.
Baker became a quadriplegic in 1995, after a car accident.
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A 25-year-old Egyptian man cut off his own penis to spite his family after he was refused permission to marry a girl from a lower class family, police reported Sunday.
