LOCAL POLICE GET A LESSON ABOUT METH

CONSTANTINE - Michigan's new "drug of choice" is turning houses,
apartments, hotel rooms and cars into potentially toxic time bombs, where
users are processing over-the-counter ingredients into cheap psychological
stimulants 10 times as potent as cocaine.

"Cookers" armed with hot plates, plastic tubing, Mason jars, coffee filters
and taped coolers are turning common cold medications, chemical solvents,
lye, drain cleaners and anhydrous ammonia - a common farm fertilizer - into
powders and pastes which can be snorted, injected, eaten or smoked to
create a "high" that can last 24 hours.

Methamphetamine has turned many of the drug's users into amateur chemists,
as "recipes" for processing the ingredients are passed among "cookers" and
over the Internet.

According to Michigan State Police experts who recently conducted a
training for St. Joseph County law enforcement officials, the clandestine,
amateur labs can turn a house or car into a potential powder keg that can
threaten a neighborhood and the safety of officers entering a structure or
opening a vehicle. Although most of the chemicals have common household
uses, combined or improperly handled, they can cause explosions, fires, or
create toxic fumes which can kill a human being almost immediately.

Police suggested ways to shut down potentially lethal meth labs: alert
neighbors who notice the strong smells of ammonia, ether or acetone; a
watchful retailer who's aware of large-volume purchases of cold
medications; or farmers who recognize tampering with liquid fertilizer tanks.

The highly addictive and chemically dangerous nature has done little to
dissuade meth's spread from the West Coast and beyond motorcycle gangs.
Michigan State Police units seized 18 meth labs statewide in 1999, 43 in
2000, and 34 during the first five months of 2001.

Locally, St. Joseph County law enforcement officials recently discovered
what they believe was a meth operation set up in a Sturgis motel room.

Another was discovered in Kalamazoo County, operating in a Stadium Drive
motel. A third was shutdown in Paw Paw.

Trooper Randi Whitney, a member of the statewide MSP Methamphetimine
Investigation Team created in August 2000, said police estimate there are
at least 100-150 labs operating across Michigan. That may not include
makeshift meth kitchens set up in car trunks and even suitcases, Whitney said.

Det. Sgt. Dale Hinz, also with the MSP Meth Team, said police have seen a
"concentration in southwest Michigan," warning officers to watch for
unusual equipment and chemical components when responding to domestic
disturbances or making traffic stops.

"These "Beavis and Butthead' labs are dangerous because they deal with
things that are explosive and the chemicals are toxic and carcinogenic,"
Whitney said. "They can booby trap their labs so do not touch anything or
turn on or off any power switches or lights. Don't move any containers,
don't sniff them and don't smoke around them.

"These labs can kill," she said, as a picture of three victims who inhaled
an escaping gas flashed on the screen.

The fact that meth's ingredients are easily obtained, that processing is
relatively short - 20 minutes to two hours - and that the drug produces an
intense, long-lived but highly addictive high, have combined to give give
it what police call a "shorter food chain." Meth distribution may have only
two or three tiers from producer to user, rather than the complicated
distribution chains involved with many other illegal drugs. And many users
are cutting out the middle man altogether by doing the cooking process
themselves.

According to Hinz, producing methamphetamine generally is a three-step
process which begins with ephedrine, an active ingredient commonly found in
cold medications like Sudafed, in bronchial dialators, and in some diet
medications. Cookers use a variety of different solvents to separate the
ephedrine from other ingredients in the medications. Then the solvent is
evaporated or boiled off.

Next, a chemical reaction with the ephedrine paste or power is created
using anhydrous ammonia and lithium metal commonly found in camera
batteries, or by using red phosphorous, a substance in flares and matchbook
strike plates. That process produces an oil which cookers sometimes try to
conceal in juice bottles because it resembles apple juice.

The final step typically uses sulfuric acid and salt which bubbles a gas
through the oil, separating out the solid meth.

By-products are also a serious concern. According to Hinz, six pounds of
hazardous waste is created in the production of every pound of
methamphetamine. Michigan State Police investigators say the cost to
dispose of wastes left behind from a meth operation can cost $3,000-$30,000.

Michigan imposes a 20-year prison penalty for manufacturing or delivering
meth and 10 years for having the chemicals/equipment to manufacture the
drug, police said. If prosecutors can prove a building or vehicle owner was
aware cookers were using their property for manufacturing meth, the owners
can face a 10-year felony.

Illegally disposing of meth by-products is a 20-year felony.

Police advise persons who detect strong, unexplained odors of ammonia,
ether, acetone or a urine smell, to contact police. Finding coffee filters,
Mason jars and duct tape which are chemically stained red, or large amounts
of discarded cold medicine packaging, insulated jugs duct-taped closed, or
many empty drain cleaner, solvent or camera battery coverings are other
warning signs.

If you suspect a meth production lab, don't enter the area, troopers warn.
Instead, Hinz suggests calling the Michigan State Police Methamphetamine
Investigation Team at (866) METH- TIP. MSP officials said the line is
anonymous and confidential and calls are answered in Lansing.