COUNTERING METH INCURSION IN MD

As Drug Creeps In, DEA Teaches Police How To Deal With Labs

QUANTICO, VA. -- In World War II-era Quonset huts deep inside this
sprawling Marine Corps base, two Harford County sheriff's deputies
spent a week learning how to cook methamphetamine.

The illegal drug recipe isn't hard or especially secret. The primary
ingredients are cold medicine, denatured alcohol, phosphorus,
reagents and iodine.

"It's not rocket science," Deputy 1st Class Greg Young said.

Still, for the 35-year-old deputy, the final white powdery product
was striking to see for the first time. Young wants to be able to
recognize the ingredients of a drug that has been popping up in his
largely rural county with increasing frequency.

The deputies' cooking instruction came as part of an effort by the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to train authorities across
Maryland and other states to identify, dismantle and secure
clandestine methamphetamine labs.

Last year, police officers in Maryland discovered nine such sites, up
from two the year before.

While not nearly the same crisis as in the West and Midwest - more
than 12,000 meth labs were discovered nationwide last year, according
to the DEA - drug experts statewide report that the meth lab
phenomenon has moved east and may be establishing a foothold in Maryland.

This year, labs were found in Montgomery and Garrett counties.

And Friday, on the same day Young and Sgt. Doug Reppar graduated from
their weeklong meth lab course in Quantico, prosecutors hauled three
people into federal court after a routine traffic stop led to the
discovery of a makeshift meth lab at a Super 8 Motel in Joppa.

Little education Authorities in Maryland acknowledge that they have
few officers who know how to deal with the problem. Only four
students from local and state law enforcement in Maryland completed
the 40-hour clandestine lab course last year.

"In the beginning, a course like this was just for us," said John M.
Donnelly, unit chief of the DEA clandestine lab training.

But because the labs can be highly toxic and volatile, federal drug
officials believe that local authorities nationwide need to know how
to recognize and contain them. This fiscal year, 15 more students
from Maryland have been certified by the DEA meth lab experts.

The telltale signs are strange. A room littered with cold medicine,
camera batteries or containers of lye could be a giveaway of a meth
lab, Donnelly said.

The dangers inside the room, he said, are significant. Cooking meth
can produce deadly fumes that are colorless and odorless. The
likelihood of explosions from unstable gases contained in gas grill
tanks is high, Donnelly said.

For the students who complete his course, the DEA provides more than
$2,000 worth of hazardous material protection gear, including
chemical suits, bulletproof vests and protective masks.

Instructors discuss the toxicology of the drug in a classroom lined
with pictures of lab operators who have been injured or died during
meth production accidents.

Dangerous duty Unlike in their approach to most crime scenes,
Donnelly said, officers must plan to detain suspects, guard against
the risk of fire and protect themselves from the dangers of chemical exposure.

Cleaning up labs in places as different as a motel room and a U-Haul
truck requires a contractor specializing in toxic waste. Estimates
average $2,500, Donnelly said, and $20 million was spent nationwide last year.

"About 30 percent of all labs are found because there is some kind of
fire or explosion," he said.

Between 2000 and late last year, more than 15,000 children were
exposed to meth labs, including thousands exposed to the toxic
chemicals. There were also 96 lab-related injuries and eight deaths,
according to a report issued last week by the family advocacy group
Generations United.

Advertisement The meth problem in Maryland remains small, fed by
outside influences, authorities said.

In the most recent example, on Thursday, one of the lead
investigators had completed the meth lab course in Quantico.
Baltimore Officer Steven Rose, who is assigned to a DEA task force,
noted the course in his affidavit before a federal court judge
Friday, as he sought drug charges against three people from North Carolina.

Gathering ingredients According to court documents, a Harford County
sheriff's deputy arrested a driver, Valerie A. James, 25, on
suspicion of driving under the influence. A search of the car
recovered a small quantity of methamphetamine and a propane-style
tank containing anhydrous ammonia, according to court papers.

Court papers stated that James told authorities she and two friends
from North Carolina were traveling to New York and stopped in Harford
County to rest. Throughout the day they had been purchasing pseudo-
ephedrine - a common ingredient in cold medicine - in Maryland and
Virginia, according to the papers.

Police searching their room at the Super 8 Motel on Pulaski Highway
in Joppa found lithium strips, at least two 1-gallon containers of
Coleman fuel and more than 200 tablets of pseudoephedrine, according
to court documents.

All the items, Rose wrote, could be used to cook meth.