THE PUBLIC NEEDS METH EDUCATION

How do you cut off the supply of a drug whose ingredients are readily
available? A drug that can be cheaply produced from directions
downloaded from the Internet? A drug that is the most potentially
dangerous one to appear in 20 years? Those are questions plaguing
Indiana law enforcement authorities as they brace for an epidemic of
methamphetamine addiction.

Popularly known as meth or crank, the drug is considered as lethal as
crack cocaine. For now, use is most widely found in the West and
Midwest. Although supplies from criminal gangs in California and
Mexico pour in, most is "homemade," manufactured by small operators
working out of homes, motel rooms, the back of vans and even in the
recesses of Hoosier forests.

Meth's dangers aren't restricted solely to its users. Last week,
thieves near Hope tried to steal a farm fertilizer used to produce
the drug. An estimated 800 gallons of ammonia were released, forming
a toxic cloud that injured four passers-by, including an infant.

The incident in Hope wasn't isolated. Meth is most often mixed in
rural areas. Although users are well-schooled in the necessary
ingredients, the public is not. Nor are the businesses that sell the
ingredients, which are legal and can be purchased at almost any
grocery, pharmacy or farm supply store. The Indiana Drug Enforcement
Association hopes to inform merchants of that fact.

Working with local officials, the IDEA promotes campaigns to educate
businesses about what it takes to "cook" a batch of meth. Recently
the Morgan County Sheriff's Department started distributing posters
listing the ingredients to firms and stores that stock them.

Merchants are asked to alert the department if customers buy any of
the ingredients in large quantities or repeatedly ask for them. Civil
libertarians object to making snitches of private citizens, but law
enforcement officials insist informing the public and asking their
cooperation is essential to curbing production.

We side with the law. Makeshift meth labs are exploding throughout
rural Indiana and edging their way into the cities. Public awareness
is critical.