Some call it crank. others call it crystal meth or speed. Regardless, crystal methamphetamine is all over central Iowa — Ames included.

Des Moines is a crossroad of interstates 80 and 35, and because of the large amount of traffic and close proximity to other metropolitan areas, methamphetamine use is skyrocketing in the area, authorities say.

“Because central Iowa is at a crossroad, it [meth use] is as much a matter of location as anything,” said John Tinker, coordinator of the Central Iowa Drug Task Force and investigative coordinator with Iowa State’s Department of Public Safety.

Drug activity in the area is up from eight arrests in 1994, to 85 arrests last year. There were 38 drug-related arrests in 1995.

Although many of those arrests were for marijuana violations, Tinker warned that marijuana use often leads to use of other drugs.

“They’ll tell you casual use of marijuana doesn’t lead to anything else, but they start off on marijuana and then later move on to meth and coke if they can get it,” Tinker said.

He said large quantities of meth regularly come through the area. A pound of meth is worth about $12,000, and one gram, which is on the “upper end” of what someone would use to get high, sells for about $130.

A few weeks ago, 3 1/2 pounds of meth, with a street value of up to $140,000, was seized in Ames by the drug task force. During the bust, officers also seized six guns, marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Polk County Sheriff’s narcotics detectives and agents from the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement arrested four people on Wednesday who were believed to be connected to a meth lab in Des Moines. Police said officers found a working meth lab, meth, marijuana, cash and a rifle.

“There was a strong smell of chemicals in the house, and we found everything needed to produce meth, from the recipe to make it, to the still-wet finished product,” said Lt. Mark Burdock, head of the narcotics enforcement division of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

Meth is the drug of choice largely because of convenience, said Sgt. Jim Robinson of the Ames Police Department.

Because it can be made locally, there isn’t much smuggling involved, like other drugs. It also gives people a longer-lasting high than cocaine, but for about the same price, he said.

“Compared to cocaine, it’s mushrooming something fierce,” Robinson said.

Information about producing meth is easily available, found in books and on the Internet. And it doesn’t take much to set up a lab, Robinson said. He said people have been known to set up shop in motel rooms and mobile homes.

People high on meth are often aggressive. The drug keeps users up for days without sleep, which leads to paranoia, hallucination and fatigue.

Meth use can be particularly dangerous because it is hard to decipher the purity of the drug. The drug mixture often includes inert ingredients like sugar or flour so it can be used by more people.

In the production of meth, Tinker said, car battery acid is used, and it remains in residual form in the drug.