PROGRAM EDUCATES RETAILERS TO COMBAT METH CRISIS

Retailers, Employees Learn About The Products That Are Used To
Manufacture Methamphetamine

The Franklin County Sheriff's Department has cooked up a program to
make it harder to manufacture methamphetamine.

The program is designed to educate retailers and their employees
about the products used in making meth.

CHEM, which stands for Companies Helping Eliminate Meth, is going to
be introduced statewide at the end of July. It was started in 2003 by
Cpl. Jason Grellner of the Franklin County Sheriff's Department.

The program uses a variety of tactics to educate retailers and deter
possible criminals. The free kit that police send to participating
retailers contains an informational video, shelf tags and other
products with the CHEM logo. Although the program is free for
businesses, the state has secured a $300,000 spending bill to provide
training, pamphlets and videos.

Sgt. Mike Stubbs of the Boone County Sheriff's Department said the
department hadn't yet heard of the program, but would most likely support it.

"We're in favor of any program that will help educate people on what
it takes to manufacture meth," Stubbs said.

According to Grellner, the program started because his officers were
seeing that the products found during meth busts were being purchased
primarily from local retailers.

"Our officers were finding receipts, cold medicine boxes and other
things that were bought at local stores," he said.

The program began after Franklin County sheriff's deputies began
going to local retailers to ask them about meth, and they found most
employees had no idea how people manufactured it.

"We started out small in our community, targeting department stores,
grocery stores, auto and hardware stores," Grellner said.

Orscheln Farm & Home in Washington, Mo., is one of the businesses
supporting the CHEM program.

"We've cooperated with the police, put signs up and had employee
training on two occasions," store manager Chuck Gunn said.

According to Gunn, the store's participation in the program has
reduced the sale of products that could be used to make meth.

"We were selling a lot of iodine and starter fluid, now those sales
have dropped a lot," Gunn said.

His store has also been responsible for several arrests.

"We've called the police about some suspicious people, and they've
caught a couple because of our information," Gunn said.

In Franklin County, the number of meth labs dropped significantly
when the program was first implemented.

"We saw 160 meth labs drop down to 107," Grellner said.

Capt. Ron Reprogle of the Missouri State Highway Patrol stationed in
Jefferson City said he hopes the success in Franklin County can be
replicated statewide.

"We know the program has been successful, and we're looking forward
to it being implemented statewide," Reprogle said.

Grellner said one of the problems he faced with the program was the
continuous education of store employees.

"We found out retail has a high rate of turnover, so we had to
reteach new employees," he said.

The CHEM program will be officially introduced at the Missouri
Sheriff's Association conference at the end of July.

For more information, retailers can call Grellner at the Franklin
County Sheriff's Department, 636-583-2560, or visit www.chem-partner.org.