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Most of the labs are sophisticated operations producing pounds of meth for distribution, usually safely. Alarmingly, however, more and more users are setting up dangerous "stove-top" labs to brew a few ounces of methamphetamine for their own needs. In untrained or careless hands, the chemicals are a volatile stew that can explode if spilled onto a hot plate. Officials suspect that's what happened to Kathy James, who has not yet been charged and is now in a burn ward in San Bernardino.
And they fear that such calamities will keep happening because the meth epidemic has gone largely ignored. "We've been fighting it really strongly for nearly seven years," says Edward Synicky, a special agent with California's bureau of narcotics enforcement, "but cocaine gets all the publicity because it's glamorous. And law enforcement in general doesn't put the resources into meth that it should."
More public education is needed about the drug's ruinous effects, which include hallucinations, addiction, depression, paranoia and violent rages. Police report that many of the most brutal crimes are now committed by people using meth. "Maybe the legacy of the three James children can wake up the country to the danger of methamphetamine," says Synicky. "I sure hope so."
--Reported by Adam Cohen/New York and Elizabeth B. Mullen/San Francisco