GRANITE CITY COUNCIL PROPOSES ORDINANCE TO RID CITY OF DRUG MORE POWERFUL
THAN COCAINE

Because of the increased use of methamphetamine in Granite City, the City
Council has proposed an ordinance that would make it difficult for meth
users to get the chemicals to manufacture the drug.

The council plans to revise the ordinance before it is approved.

The ordinance is modeled after an ordinance passed three years ago by the
St. Peters City Council in St. Charles County in Missouri. St. Peters
Police Chief Tom Bishop said the ordinance has worked well and driven meth
addicts out of St. Peters.

"The ingredients to make meth are not easily accessible to them anymore,"
Bishop said. "They move on, but it is increasingly difficult for them to
get the ingredients in our area because most of the communities in St.
Charles (County) have ordinances similar to the one that was approved here."

The Granite City ordinance - which the council could pass at its March 4
meeting - would restrict the manner of sale of ephedrine and
pseudoephedrine products. Ephedrine is used in animal feed and dietary
supplements. Pseudoephedrine is used in products to fight influenza. Both
are necessary ingredients for the manufacture of meth.

The ordinance would also mandate storeowners to pull products from shelves
with those ingredients and sell the products behind the counter, as well as
have employees who sell ephedrine products or those who discover the theft
or disappearance of the products to notify the police department within
three days.

Peggy Cooper, manager of the Walgreens on Nameoki Road, said she has been
taking the majority of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine products off shelves
for more than six months because they kept "walking." She said she has no
problem selling the products behind the counter and thinks the ordinance is
a good idea, if revised somewhat.

"If I put them out, they will continue to walk," Cooper said. "We had the
police come in here and arrest people who were going to use them in ways
they weren't intended."

Cooper said the theft of the products began a year ago. She said by the end
of a week, there were times when the shelves containing them were empty.

Al Pelate, the owner of Medicap Pharmacy on Madison Avenue, said he too has
removed most of the products that can be used to manufacture
methamphetamine and is selling them from behind the counter.

"I leave one or two boxes out," Pelate said. "I'm very aware of what's
going on. I can tell when someone is up to no good."

Pelate said he has called police about suspected meth users and believes
the ordinance is a good idea. So does Granite City Police Chief Dave
Ruebhausen. He said he talked to Mayor Ron Selph about 10 days ago about a
pro-active approach to combat the manufacture of methamphetamine through an
ordinance.

"This isn't a cause for alarm. It's a pro-active measure," Ruebhausen said.
"I don't want to stick my head in the sand and ignore the issue. To me,
it's the right step to take to discourage this type of activity. At the
same time, we don't want to hurt sales or deny public access. We want to
take this to a point where the products are not shoplifted and used in a
way they are supposed to be used."

Ruebhausen said the department has intensified its efforts to weed out
methamphetamine users through undercover work and by a list of informants.

According to Michael Dixon, deputy director of the Metropolitan Enforcement
Group of Southwestern Illinois, methamphetamine use is more prevalent in
Granite City than any other community in Madison County. He said the reason
why so many arrests have been made in Granite is that the police
department, along with the Madison County Sheriff's Department, has
received training on what to look for and how to react.

"Chief Ruebhausen is very aggressive in tackling the meth problem," Dixon
said. "The same thing can be said for the sheriff's department."

He said the latest methamphetamine arrests in Granite City took place on
Feb. 14. Charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine manufacturing
chemicals were 37-year-old Alfred K. Nolan Sr. and 18-year-old Alfred K.
Nolan Jr., both of the 2800 block of Denver Street. Also charged with the
same offense were Kent D. Warren, 38, of the 2000 block of Harris Street,
Madison, and Nicole A. Futrell, 29, of the 2800 block of Dale Avenue. Bail
was set at $100,000 for each. Nolan Jr. and Futrell were released after
posting bond. Nolan Sr. and Warren are in custody at Madison County Jail in
Edwardsville.

Dixon said 70 meth-related cases from Madison County were investigated by
MEGSI last year. Some were meth houses and the others were related to the
possession or the manufacture of the drug. Since January, about 20 cases
have been reported, half of which have come from the Granite City area. He
said if the number of cases continue at its current pace in Madison County,
he expects cases to balloon to about 100 before the end of the year.

"The drug has hit just about every community in Madison County. Granite
City isn't the only community facing a methamphetamine dilemma," Dixon said.

He said the drug is widespread because it is easy to make.

"What we found is that people who make meth become addicted to it. They
don't make it for profit," Dixon said.

He said the drug is five times more powerful than crack cocaine and is used
primarily by white males of lower social economic status.

"It's not a drug used by African-Americans. We haven't found that to be the
case at this time. There has never been a case from Venice (mostly a black
community) since the first meth case in 1998," Dixon said.

He said methamphetamine houses are expensive to clean up, combustible and
can omit toxic compounds and poisonous gases, such as phosphine.

"It's tasteless, colorless and odorless. Yet it kills quickly,'' said
Dixon, who added that cleanups cost between $500 and $1,500 and are paid
through federal grants.