METHAMPHETAMINE MADE IN NAZI STYLE

Cold tablets. Salt. Coffee filters. Batteries. Drain cleaner. Ammonia.
Antifreeze. Starter fluid.

On the store shelf, the products look innocuous.

But in the Denton County area, they have been flying off store shelves,
purchased by people schooled in the so-called Nazi cooking method of
manufacturing methamphetamine, said Lt. Richard Mankoff, commander of the
North Central Texas Narcotics Task Force.

Drug agents say they are increasingly finding these "rolling labs" in
duffel bags, hotel rooms, cars, boats and houses in rural areas.

"Basically, what you're looking at is an entirely new method of making
meth, where you're breaking away from the traditional cooking method that
required sophisticated lab equipment and maybe three days' cooking time, to
a method that, as far as glassware, you can do on Pyrex, and the cooking
time is a matter of hours," said Paul Villaescusa, spokesman for the Drug
Enforcement Administration's Dallas office.

The method is cheaper, faster and less volatile than traditional
methamphetamine labs, but drug agents say the labs can still explode and
the ingredients of the highly potent stimulant can still be deadly to
users.

"Look at what you're putting in there -- Drano, starter fluid, lye,
ammonia," Mankoff said. "What else can you put into your body that is any
worse than that, more caustic than that?

"Do people realize that? Some people don't because they don't see that
aspect of it," he said. "I personally don't think they would care how it's
cooked as long as they get it."

The task force has seized about 40 such labs in Denton, Grayson and Wise
counties in the past year, Mankoff. Officers busted four of the labs in
three days in Wise County last month, arresting 11 people. All the suspects
had ingredients in their possession that indicated they were using the Nazi
methamphetamine cooking method, he said.

"Two of the four we watched steal anhydrous ammonia from a tank," Mankoff
said. "The other two had just got back from Wal-Mart in Denton with starter
fluid."

Earlier this year, the task force -- which includes officers from the
Denton and Wise County sheriff's departments and Highland Village,
Lewisville and Roanoke police departments -- arrested a Wise County man who
they said was teaching others about the method and charging them $5,000
each.

"He had five to 10 people at a time and let them videotape it," Mankoff said.

The DEA has also swung into action, distributing to retail stores a poster
warning that "Manufacturing of illegal drugs is on the rise using common
household items sold in your stores."

The posters advise store workers to notice any increase in the sales of
cold tablets made from ephedrine, which is used to make methamphetamine,
and to look for people who come frequently to buy large quantities of cold
tablets or chemicals.

The procedure was perfected by the Nazis during World War II to make
methamphetamine to keep Adolph Hitler's troops and factory workers wake and
alert. The method resurfaced about three years ago outside the St. Louis
area, spread to Oklahoma and then to Texas, Villaescusa said. The method
started showing up in the Denton County area in the past year, Mankoff
said.

Drug agents in Fort Worth and Northeast Tarrant County say they haven't
seen evidence of the labs. But Mankoff, who teaches classes for area law
enforcement agencies on the Nazi cooking method, said it's so new to this
area that many officers don't know what to look for.

While the traditional methamphetamine cooking method is volatile and
explosions are frequent, the Nazi cooking method has its hazards as well,
Mankoff said.

Chemicals used in the process can explode or cause skin rashes, respiratory
distress and possible death. If not manufactured properly, the drug can
blind users, he said. The caustic chemicals used in the uncontrolled Nazi
cooking labs can cause sores on users' faces and bodies that disappear when
the drug use stops.

The vast majority -- about 80 percent to 90 percent -- of methamphetamine
coming into Texas is sent from California or Mexico through drug routes
established in the heroin, cocaine and marijuana trade, officials say.

The smaller illicit labs, including the so-called Nazi cooking labs,
started to proliferate after passage of a 1993 federal law regulating the
sale of bulk quantities of ephedrine, officials said.

Wal-Mart has taken that regulation a step further, becoming one of the
first national chains to work with the DEA to track when bulk quantities of
some of the chemicals and other items used for methamphetamine are
purchased, Villaescusa said.

Many using the Nazi cooking method started out making the drug for
themselves and friends, and then widened their base of operations after
they discovered how much money they could make, Mankoff said.

A case of the cold tablets will make a half-kilo of 90 percent pure
methamphetamine, he said. That will sell for about $100 to $125 a gram, he
said.

"An ounce will go for $2,000 to $2,500, and you go into poundage after
that," he said. "You can see how it adds up real quick."

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Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson