POLICE ISSUE WARNING ON METH

If methamphetamines gain a foothold in Vermont, the drug could create an
epidemic that far outpaces the impact that heroin has had on the state.

That was the message from Vermont State Police Detective Trooper Michael
Smith at a recent forum held in Rutland to raise awareness about the
dangers of methamphetamines.

"If we end up with a meth problem in Vermont, it will overrun our heroin
problem," said Smith, a member of the State Police criminal intelligence
unit. "We don't currently have a meth problem. We want to get ahead of it.
We want to be truly proactive."

Smith spoke at the forum called a "Methamphetamine Information Session for
Community Professionals." More than 60 people, including prison guards,
prosecutors, judges and drug treatment providers, attended the two-hour
session held last week at the Rutland Intermediate School.

Similar information sessions are taking place across the state.

The forums follow the "Vermont Methamphetamine Policy Summit" held in
February in Montpelier which were sponsored by the state departments of
Health and Public Safety and the state Criminal Justice Training Council.

"That was the first phase, to bring policymakers and department heads up to
speed on methamphetamines," Smith said. "Now we're in the second phase,
where we're talking to community professionals and educating them."

A third phase is also planned, aimed at state residents.

"We're going to start hitting the communities," Smith said. "We're looking
at public service announcements and other ways to get the word out. There
are other states out there and we're looking to see what they have done.
We're trying not to reinvent the wheel."

Smith said he isn't sure why the drug - which has swept across the West and
Midwest, leaving a swath of addicts and crimes in its wake - has not yet
reached Vermont.

"A lot of people ask that," Smith said. "It's just been this progression
from the Midwest."

Police in June 2004 broke up what they believed to be the first
methamphetamine lab in Vermont, arresting two men from Arkansas who were
charged with setting up shop in Shrewsbury. Police said they were acting on
a tip when they raided the home.

Police said they found many pseudoephedrine pills, commonly used for
cooking methamphetamines.

Police said their search of a garage recovered gallons of acetone, assorted
glassware and ephedrine pills, all common items in a meth lab.

Police also seized about 2 grams of methamphetamine. Federal charges are
pending against the two men.

Police have raided homes in Rutland County before in search of
methamphetamine. A West Rutland man was arrested in 1990 after police
raided his home and found what they believed to be evidence he had been
manufacturing the drug.

More recently, a Canadian man was arrested in the Northeast Kingdom in
February after police seized from his truck nearly 700 pounds of ephedrine,
a chemical used to make methamphetamine. Federal charges against that man
are also pending.

According to court records, one pound of ephedrine can be used to
manufacture between 0.6 and 0.9 pounds of methamphetamine, meaning that the
ephedrine seized from the vehicle could have been used to produce between
420 to 630 pounds of meth.

Police added that meth sells for about $2,400 per ounce in New England.

Cynthia Taylor-Patch, a training and curriculum development coordinator at
the Vermont Police Academy in Pittsford, also spoke this week at the forum.

"A lot of states across the nation have been devastated by meth,"
Taylor-Patch said. "We don't want that to happen here."

Taylor Patch said methamphetamines are a highly addictive stimulant, which
can be smoked, snorted or injected. Use of the drug can result in brain
damage or death, she said.

"People who take the drug are extremely wired," Taylor-Patch said.

Smith added, "Meth users are very paranoid. That's not meant to sound
derogatory. It's the truth."

Methamphetamine can also lead to severe weight loss, heart and liver
problems, sudden mood changes and violent tendencies, Taylor-Patch said.

The drug has hit rural areas in the country particularly hard, Taylor-Patch
said. He said it can be made in small, makeshift laboratories from
ingredients that can be purchased legally.

However, some of the ingredients are toxic and can turn those makeshift
laboratories into hazardous waste sites requiring trained professionals to
clean them up.

Smith said many states have enacted laws to limit the sale of "precursor"
over-the-counter chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamines, including
pseudoephedrine, commonly found in cold medicines.

The detective said he hopes the Legislature will take action on similar
legislation next session.

"We don't want to scare people," Taylor-Patch said. "It's very early on in
the process. What we're trying to do is educate."