METH LABS USE HOUSEHOLD ITEMS BEYOND COLD MEDICINES

INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- Controlling access to Sudafed and other cold medicines
could help slow the spread of methamphetamine labs in West Virginia, but
law enforcement officials warn that several other commonly available
household goods are also used to make the drug.

The Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney's office is distributing a poster
to retailers that outlines some of the items, which purchased frequently or
in large quantities could indicate that they are being used to cook
methamphetamine.

"If someone is trying to buy gallon jugs of iodine or several hundred boxes
of matches, it's a pretty good indication they are up to no good," said
State Police Lt. Mike Goff.

The strike plates of match boxes contain red phosphorous, which is a key
ingredient in the state's prevalent "Red P" method of making the drug.

At clandestine lab scenes police often find the piles of unspent matchbooks
- -- the matches themselves are not used in the process.

"Even if you are a heavy smoker, you usually don't need this many matches,"
Goff said. "You'd probably invest in a lighter."

Gov. Joe Manchin has introduced bills (SB147, HB2195) in both chambers of
the Legislature to curtail the availability of ephedrine and
pseudoephedrine, which serve as the main ingredients for meth cooking. A
joint House-Senate committee is scheduled to hear a presentation on the
proposal Thursday.

If passed, the bill would create reporting requirements for the relevant
cold medicines and cap the monthly amount of pseudoephedrine that
individuals would be allowed to buy at 9 grams. At a dosage of 30
milligrams per tablet, that would amount to 15 20-pill packs per month.

A state "Meth Summit" scheduled by law enforcement officials this spring
would address some of the other ingredients used in drug-making that are
less readily moved behind pharmacy counters.

Bill Ore, who owns the Clendenin Pharmacy about 20 miles northeast of
Charleston, said he has already begun controlling the sales of certain cold
medicines at his store regardless of the draft legislation.

"We kept about six boxes of each on the shelves, and they'd steal it all,"
Ore said. "Then we went to putting one box on the shelf and keeping the
rest in the pharmacy, and they'd still steal it. So now we moved it all
behind the counter."

Ore said he reserves the right to refuse to sell cold medicines or iodine
to certain customers.

"I've been doing this for nearly 30 years, and I think I can tell if
they're using it to make meth."

Despite his own attempts to limit the supply Sudafed and similar drugs, Ore
said he is pulling for the bill to be passed.

"This is one terrible problem, and it's ruining the lives of our young
kids," he said. "The only way they're going to control this is make it a
pharmacy-only item."

Between October and mid-February, the Drug Enforcement Administration
ordered 115 methamphetamine labs to be cleaned up in West Virginia, up from
a total of 62 labs over the same period a year ago. In all of 2000, the DEA
registered just three clandestine labs.

At an average cost of $1,500 per lab, the DEA spent about $362,430 of
federal grant money to clean up labs in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2003.

About three in five labs have been found in Kanawha County, said Jeff
Wallenstrom, the DEA's resident agent in charge in Charleston.

"Meth is word of mouth, where users teach each other," Wallenstrom said.
"They learn how do it, and then show someone else. It just hasn't spread
through the rest of the state yet."

Wallenstrom said it is important for the state to tackle the
methamphetamine problem before it becomes more wide spread. Otherwise users
might try to find another method for getting hold of the drug.

"If we stop it now before it really takes off, the demand won't be there so
they won't take it in from the outside," Wallenstrom said.