Have you ever thought about, or used drugs before? Well, I hope that answer is a no, because kids either die or are put on the streets because of drugs. Last summer I got an amazing opportunity to go with my dad who has a unique job. He works for the City of Fort Worth disposing of any substance the city confiscates in a drug raid. I got to go with him to a house that was busted for having a clandestine or “Nazi”drug lab inside. The house was in a run down neighborhood, but that’s not near as shocking as what was inside of the lab. Grown-ups with two small children were living inside the house where the illicit drugs were being illegally manufactured. The grown-ups were “cooking “ the “meth” in the kitchen where the kids were earlier eating their Cap’n Crunch cereal. On the kitchen table, counters, and in the sink were tubes, small glass containers, small scales, filters, several heating plates, a LP bottle modified to hold anhydrous ammonia, and numerous buckets full of clear liquids with precipitate in the bottom (this was the meth). In addition, there were pots full of a red powder where the grown-ups had scraped the red phosphorous from the tips of “strike-on-the-box” kitchen matches. Next to the red powder, there were a hundred or so lithium-ion batteries that had been stripped apart for the lithium inside the battery. This lithium was in a coffee cup next to a clear Mason jar full of iodide crystals. On the kitchen table, starting fluid (ether), muriatic acid, Liquid Drano, MSM (a horse supplement), a 5-gallon gasoline can with rock salt inside with a water hose attached to it, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, and coffee filters. I also saw a large garbage bag full of cold medicine that was called sudephedrine. Inside the garbage bag was many different brands of cold medicine pills. My dad said that all of these items were used to extract the ephedrine from the pills in order to produce the illegal drug”meth” for sale on the street.

Inside the refrigerator, my dad said they found 23 sandwich bags full of “meth” ready to distribute on the street. Next to the sandwich bags of “meth” was a handgun. They also had found three “homemade bombs”. One was made from a glass one-gallon jug that had a cannon fuse coming out of the top and was half-way filled with ether and the other two were “pipe bombs” filled with nails and gun powder that had cannon fuse at once end. Inside the microwave oven, they found approximately $27,000 in cash in a small duffle bag that also had a switchblade knife and another handgun.

When we arrived at the scene, the Narcotics Unit had just made the “bust” and had three men and one woman handcuffed and laying face down on the ground outside the house. The two small children were sitting with two police officers in a patrol car with teddy bears that the officers had given to them. The Narcotics officers were all wearing black clothes and gloves with facemasks also. My dad said that they were wearing the masks so that the “druggies” would not recognize them since the officers were working undercover on the street. Other officers were looking all through the house and collecting evidence from the kitchen and other areas inside of the house. Before the officers entered the house, the “druggies” opened the LP bottle full of anhydrous ammonia and vented it throughout the house. Several of the officers were overcome from the fumes when they entered the house. Two of the “druggies” were incapacitated from the fumes because they did not know what it could do to them. Other officers caught the other tow “druggies” as they tried to escape down the alley. Fortunately, the two kids had gone outside and were playing in their sandbox when they vented the anhydrous ammonia. My dad said the house would be condemned and demolished since the illegal drug production had contaminated the interior of the house. This experience for me was unforgettable, and unbelievable for me to see the environment someone would want to live in. These people probably live their life in fear and hopelessness of being caught and busted.
Every year kids either die or are put on the streets because of drugs. Kids all around the world are being exposed to these hazardous drugs. I am just hoping someone can see the dangers and challenges faced with drugs, and how they can be put to an end. Studies have shown that kids or teens that grow, or grew up in a healthy environment are less likely to use drugs because of friends, family, and what people do around them. The main reasons youths do drugs is the peer pressure of homework, chores, and possibly irritations. Older teens usually get the pressure for driving, or passing the driving test or the fact of passing to get out of high school. Either taking them to counseling if caught early on or a rehab facility can solve this if the drug use has been going on for a while.
Schools also need to hire a team of drug dogs to come and search the halls, lockers, students, and even teachers for drugs. This would be taking away the risks and influences of other youths becoming trapped in a horrid environment. There are also many foundations to overcome the needs for drugs. This will also keep the kids in school for their education, and future knowledge. Examples of these foundations are the National Institution on Drug Abuse, (NIDA) or, the Drug Free American Foundation, (DFAF), where they change the attitude of drug usage, and they form missions to combat against drug policy reform groups. In addition, schools can have a class at least once a week, showing drugs and their causes such as your organs and brain being damaged, or dying because of an overdose. Maybe this can make a difference to the youths being impacted, and are on the verge of becoming addicted.
Over the past year, 10.8 million (46% of the teen population) have used drugs. I hope that this will give hope to people to help drug users, and prevent more youths becoming taken over by drugs. Always make a precaution about drugs because there are a thousand ways to stop drugs, but there are a million ways to start.