Here we go again. People are aghast. They are stunned. They stand with mouths open in utter disbelief. Here? Here in the Twin Cities? Surely not!

The notion that locals are dabbling in methamphetamine should shock no one, but people are shocked. Back-to-back raids in Lewiston and Auburn became the focus of the media and the subject of chatter at corner stores. Imagine, they said. Such a dangerous drug here in Whooville.

Loftily, I’d like to point out that I was not aghast, shocked or otherwise rattled when the raids went down. Lewiston has an addictive personality and meth will hook a person as handily as anything.

Frankly, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner. Tap your garden variety crackhead on the shoulder and tell him there is a better way. Tell him he can get a four-hour high instead of a 15-minute one and all for the same amount of money. Some of them will make the switch and start enjoying those longer buzzes right away. How many remains to be seen.

Crack has a funny hold on the Twin Cities, and Lewiston in particular. It has been a coveted drug since the ’80s, and other narcotics have been unable to unseat it. Users seem to have a perverse sense of loyalty to the substance that has both propped them up and beat them down for so long.

Heroin has made a bid for supremacy a time or two, but it has not been able to compete. Powdered coke is still out there, but it is a poor replacement. It just lacks something, a crack user will tell you, like a haughty connoisseur at a wine-tasting affair. Powdered coke is best left for the recreational drug users with their dance clubs and all-night parties.

Meth is a fine candidate for the new substance of choice. A person can learn to concoct it from perfectly legal items they can purchase while picking up toilet paper and cat food. It will kill you from the inside out, but if you’re already smoking rock, what do you care about that? You’ve been dying by the gram all along.

Nobody should be shocked that meth is findings its way from the Midwest to our addictive community. When you think of Lewiston, think of a hulking, surly figure with scars and missing teeth. Think of him as a crackhead and an alcoholic who remains in utter denial. Problem? What problem? It’s you who have the problem.

I put forth my theory of meth as Lewiston’s alternative to crack cocaine to some laymen and the reaction was almost comical. Crack? There’s not much of that left here, is there? You don’t hear about it so much anymore. Surely, crack is back in Boston and New York and Hartford, where it belongs.

So naive. So innocent. The people who stake their careers on Lewiston’s success as a city would love for such misconceptions to take hold. It’s far easier to entice business to a community that does not have a drug bust featured daily in the newspaper.

But when someone makes an utterance about how pristine Lewiston has become, I hear from those who know better. Cops who deal with drug abusers and alcoholics on a daily basis. Medics who deal with the trauma that goes with that lifestyle. Substance-abuse workers who detox men, women and young people from crack or coke, heroin or meth, booze or painkillers. I hear from users who snicker and point out how easy it is to get hooked up with whatever drug they desire.

Meth being cooked in the Twin Cities is not a stunning revelation. But it’s worthy of all the ballyhoo because local people need to be educated about it. With a new drug comes new dangers and knowledge is vital.

Otherwise, we’re still just that big, toothless guy who weaves back and forth while insisting he could quit any time he wants.

Mark LaFlamme is the Sun Journal crime reporter. Visit his blog at www. sunjournal.com.