'NAZI METHOD' FOR COOKING UP METH WORRIES OFFICIALS

SPOKANE - John Merkel figures drug dealers don't know what they're
doing when they decide to use anhydrous ammonia to "cook"
methamphetamine.

He'll gladly demonstrate the problem.

Wearing heavy rubber gloves and safety goggles, Merkel, a branch
manager for Edwall Chemical in Reardan near Spokane, pours some
liquid anhydrous ammonia into a bucket, then tosses in a dollar bill.

When he carefully fishes out the bill a few minutes later and places
it next to another bill from his wallet, the one soaked in
"anhydrous" is about three-eighths of an inch narrower. The
waterless, water-seeking ammonia has soaked up most of the moisture
in the paper, leaving it brittle.

That's what would happen to human flesh.

Nonetheless, the "Nazi method" of cooking meth using anhydrous
ammonia has become more popular in the past two years among Spokane
area drug dealers, law-enforcement officials say.

"It sucks the moisture out of the cells and they burst," Merkel said.
"It just basically destroys your eyes, or you ingest it and it
destroys your lungs." The cold liquid causes deep burns and quickly
releases caustic fumes that are easily inhaled.

"Handled properly, it's safe to work with, but I don't think these
drug guys have any idea of what they're working with," Merkel said.

Last month, Colfax truck driver Robert Neu died from complications of
his exposure last October to anhydrous ammonia and liquid ammonium
phosphate. Neu's tractor-trailer rig overturned just outside the
Whitman County town of Palouse, and two 1,000-gallon tanks burst.

The Nazi method using anhydrous ammonia gets its name because it was
supposedly developed by the Germans during World War II. German
soldiers were given methamphetamine to keep them fighting on a
limited diet.

The method of extracting meth from over-the-counter decongestant and
diet pills avoids the use of stoves because heat is produced through
a chemical reaction. The older "biker" and "red phosphorous" methods
often rely on open flames to boil alcohol and other flammable liquids.

But the newer process quickly releases caustic fumes that are easily inhaled.

Sgt. George Wigen, head of the Spokane County sheriff's investigative
support unit, said drug dealers and users overlook meth's exceptional
dangers because it produces a longer high than other drugs and can be
made locally.

"You don't have to know (someone) in Colombia to get it," he said.

The trend scares Lincoln County Sheriff John Coley, Whitman County
Sheriff Steve Tomson and other law-enforcement officers in farming
areas of Eastern Washington.

Dealers use garden hoses and duct tape to steal the deadly, gaseous
chemical from fertilizer machines and pressurized storage tanks.

Just two weeks ago, thieves hit the McGregor plant in the Spokane
County town of Fairfield.

"Last year was when we really started getting slammed," Tomson said,
counting 20 documented thefts and guessing more went undetected.
"We're really ill-equipped to deal with it."

For months, Merkel and other farm-supply dealers had noticed
unscrewed caps on tanks.

"The first couple, I thought maybe they were scared off,"
Undersheriff Wade Magers said of the abandoned hoses. "But, with
three of them in a row, I don't know if they're just lazy or what.
Your guess is as good as mine."

He thinks the nocturnal thieves fled when fumes started to overcome them.

Many farm suppliers and farmers "take personal umbrage at having one
of their most basic tools turned into a weapon against their towns,"
said Pete Fretwell, spokesman for the Spokane-based Far West
Agribusiness Association.

He said the agricultural industry successfully lobbied the
Legislature to make theft of anhydrous ammonia a felony.

Ultimately, Fretwell said, the agricultural industry is pinning its
hopes on research to make anhydrous ammonia chemically useless for
cooking meth.

"Unfortunately, even if we succeed at that, meth addiction will still
be a huge community problem," Fretwell said. "Meth labs will continue
to cook meth by other methods."