Scottsdale group targets Valley meth use

Ron Teagarden knows personally the problems and tragedy that come with methamphetamine abuse and addiction being dealt with on both sides of the border.

Teagarden’s youngest son, James Teagarden, was a meth addict. Five years ago, James took a round from a .357 handgun in the back of his head during a “meth party” and died from the gunshot wound at the age of 18.

The death was ruled a suicide, but Ron Teagarden, of Cave Creek, adamantly believes that it wasn’t.

Teagarden, one of three parents of methamphetamine addicts at a Northeast Valley Against Methamphetamine Use meeting at Scottsdale Community College on Thursday, said that in addition to his son receiving threats on his life for owing drug dealers money, he and his wife also received threats.

“You learn from the pain,” Teagarden said. “My son’s death has given me the ability to get involved in helping find a solution to the problem. After my son died, I figured, ‘This isn’t my problem any more. To hell with it.’ But I have two grandchildren, age 5 and 7. They keep me coming to these things.”

About 30 people attended the coalition’s workshop where Assistant Special Agent Doug Coleman of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spoke about meth problems and trends plaguing the Valley.

The drug stimulates the central nervous system, causes violent behavior and can be introduced into the body in a number of ways.

Coleman, a former Las Vegas police drug enforcement officer with 18 years of law enforcement experience, said U.S. drug enforcement officials are beginning to receive cooperation from authorities in Mexico on extraditing known meth dealers to the U.S.

Ninety-nine percent of the drug’s supply or chemicals for it are sneaked across the Mexican border into the U.S. from the Mexican Federal cartel. The Valley serves as a meth distribution center for all parts of the United States, Coleman said.

Since January, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has arrested 13 high-ranking drug dealers, Coleman said.

That was the same number of large-scale meth labs (100 pounds or more) shut down throughout the Valley this year compared to 300 a decade ago, Coleman said.

“We’re making some progress,” said Coleman, who helped write the legislation for the Combat Methamphetamine Act, which became a federal law in 2005.

It limits pharmacies’ sale of pseudoephedrine, a drug used in making meth.

“The cost of meth is going up, and the quality of it is going down,” he said. “That means the supply is down.”