STATE: ADDING CHEMICAL TO AMMONIA WILL PREVENT METH MAKING

A chemical that will keep methamphetamine makers from using anhydrous
ammonia as a raw material for the drug will be added to the popular
nitrogen fertilizer, state officials said Monday.

Marvin Van Haaften, director of the Governor's Office of Drug Control
Policy, said the chemical, known as calcium nitrate, can be added to
each of the 26,000 tanks used for application of anhydrous ammonia in
Iowa.

Calcium nitrate renders the anhydrous ammonia useless as a seedstock
for methamphetamine, Van Haaften said.

"This is a big deal," Van Haaften said.

Ninety percent of meth used in Iowa is imported from Mexico, so the
chemical additive won.t have an impact on that, he said, but it will
be a serious barrier for Iowa-based meth makers.