Liquid Meth Found At Traffic Stop

A traffic stop leads to the first arrest in Stephens County for a new type of methamphetamine.

Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley said it started on June 28 when deputies of the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office Crime Supression Unit were engaged in a proactive patrol of the Easy Street area.

Shirley said during that patrol, deputies stopped a red Nissan truck for an equipment violation.

“While they were talking to the occupants of the vehicle, they noticed a small bag between the passenger’s legs,” said Shirley. “Based on their nervous behavior, the deputies asked for consent to search the vehicle. After the driver did give consent to search the vehicle, they searched the bag and found a container with a liquid inside. The occupants said at one it was water, but a field test of the liquid in the canister was actually a positive indication of methamphetamine.”

Shirley said the bag in the vehicle belonged to the passenger, 36-year-old Shem Williams of Toccoa.

Williams was arrested for Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Distribute.

The sheriff said Williams is in custody at the Stephens County Jail with a $20,000 bond at last report, while the contents of the container are being sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab for further testing.

Meanwhile, Shirley said this is the first arrest involving liquid methamphetamine in Stephens County.

He said it is simply methamphetamine that is heated down into liquid form.

“It is used mainly for drug addicts who are severely addicted to meth and they ‘main line’ it, meaning that they inject into their veins to get a quicker high,” said Shirley. “The sad part about that is they can sometimes overdose because of the amount of methamphetamine that goes into the blood stream rapidly and a lot more of it than you would normally smoke or snort, if you will.”

Shirley said while it has just now made its way to Stephens County, this form of methamphetamine is common in other areas of the country.