MORE METH COOKS ARE MAKING THEIR OWN AMMONIA, POLICE SAY

Narcotics investigators are seeing a troubling trend that could put more
methamphetamine on the streets and make the secret labs that produce the
highly addictive drug even more dangerous.

Although there are several different ways to make the drug, police say most
meth cooks in the area use recipes requiring anhydrous ammonia, an
agricultural fertilizer that many meth cooks call "juice." Drugmakers often
steal the hazardous chemical from farmers, but police say more cooks are
starting to make their own juice from materials they can buy legally.

Making meth is difficult and dangerous work, but making anhydrous ammonia
can be even more complex and risky. Police believe a home in Overland
caught fire this year after the recipe went awry, and they expect more
fires, explosions and chemical burns as meth cooks start to make their own
anhydrous ammonia.

Meth is a powerful stimulant that can be smoked, injected or taken in pill
form. In recent years, use of the drug has exploded across the Midwest,
especially in Missouri. The state leads the nation in meth raids and
seizures, with 2,725 recorded last year alone. In Illinois, authorities
made 525 seizures last year, up from about 229 the year before. The state
now ranks ninth in the number of meth raids.

Capt. Scott Reed, a drug investigator for the Missouri State Highway
Patrol, recently raided two meth labs in St. Francois County where cooks
were making their own anhydrous ammonia. He calls homemade anhydrous
ammonia "the next big thing in Missouri meth."

An investigator for a meth task force in St. Louis County, who asked not to
be identified, said police raided a lab making anhydrous ammonia in Lemay
this year. He fears this practice could become a trend.

"This will catch on," he said. "When (meth cooks) get together ... they're
going to teach each other how to do this."

Cpl. Don Mestemacher, head of the Jefferson County drug task force, said
that police there have caught drug suspects with ingredients for anhydrous
ammonia, but "we haven't caught anybody actually making it yet."

In Illinois, homemade anhydrous ammonia is still an anomaly, according to
Master Sgt. Bruce Liebe with Illinois State Police.

"When I first heard a report a few months back about (homemade anhydrous
ammonia) from an officer in Mississippi, I thought, 'Why the heck would
anybody do this when there's so much anhydrous out there that they could
steal?'" Liebe said.

"Then, within two weeks we had a case where two guys in Taylorville, in
Christian County, tried to pull the process off but were unsuccessful."

Attempts to make the fertilizer often end in failure, but Detective Jason
Grellner, head of a three-man narcotics unit in the Franklin County
Sheriff's Department, says the rewards outweigh the risks for most meth
cooks. Grellner says he is sure cooks already are taking that risk in
Franklin County, one of the state's top meth-producing counties.

Grellner said that cooks making their own anhydrous ammonia can save money
and that they are less likely to be caught by police.

Higher awareness of meth and its ingredients is making it harder to steal
anhydrous ammonia. As a result, the chemical's black-market price can top
$100 a gallon, a huge markup. Also, police arrest hundreds of suspected
meth cooks every year who are caught transporting stolen anhydrous ammonia
or storing it in unlawful containers.

Making anhydrous ammonia doesn't require an advanced knowledge of chemistry
or hard-to-find ingredients. A popular recipe calls for ammonia salt found
in garden fertilizers, drain opener and water. Just like making meth, all a
cook needs is a detailed recipe, which can be found online, and a
willingness to risk injury or worse.

Christopher Boldt, a chemist with the Missouri Department of Natural
Resources, says making anhydrous ammonia is a lot like driving a car.

"If someone shows you how to do it, you can do it," he said. "But you don't
know why it works and - if you don't really know what you're doing - you
don't know what to do when something goes wrong."

A lot of things can go wrong. Anhydrous ammonia generators - the devices
cooks craft from bottles, buckets and tubes to make the chemical - can
explode. If enough gas escapes from the generator, it can burn,
incapacitate or kill those nearby.

Boldt said that the process used by meth cooks to make anhydrous ammonia
also leaves behind a corrosive byproduct that could injure people exposed
to it and hurt the environment.

Police say there is another problem with the homemade fertilizer: It could
lead to bigger drug labs that produce pounds rather than ounces of
methamphetamine.

For the recipe that makes the most powerful and sought-after meth,
anhydrous ammonia is the only ingredient that can't be bought legally.
Because the fertilizer is the most difficult ingredient to get, it often
limits how much meth a cook can make.

Grellner says police need to crack down hard on the homemade juice now, or
they risk making the same mistake he says they made years ago.

"In 1996 and 1997 law enforcement in Missouri got caught with our pants
down," Grellner said. "What we're trying to do now is stay ahead of the curve."

Paul Hampel of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.