METH'S SIMPLICITY IS POWER

The materials to make methamphetamine are derived from everyday
grocery store items.

Narcotics investigator Jerry Orr explained how meth is produced at a
recent seminar in Townsend. Orr is a Blount County Sheriff's Office
representative Drug Enforcement Agency operating out of Knoxville and
the on the seven-person 5th Judicial Task Force.

Meth producers often transport the raw ingredients in large plastic
storage containers, like those made by Rubbermaid.

Orr brought enough ingredients and glass jars showing the stages of
meth production to cover the top of a large folding table.

``I bought everything I have here (except for one item) at Wal-Mart
for a little over $100,'' Orr said. The only ingredient not available
at the retail store, was 7 percent iodine tincture, which farmers use
for wounds on animals.

``A gallon of this lasted my grandfather 12 years and these people buy
gallons at a time. Even though the price has been jacked up (by farm
product retailers), it does not deter people from buying it.''

According to a brochure produced by the South/East Tennessee
Methamphetamine Task Force, the two procedures involved in making meth
are anhydrous or red phosphorus.

Some of the ingredients used in making meth are so poisonous they
would cause death if ingested before going through the cooking process.

Ingredients used in the various meth recipes include over-the-counter
cold pills containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, gasoline and
anti-freeze additives, denatured alcohol, distilled water, iodine,
match strike plates, brake cleaner, and starting fluid.

Other ingredients and equipment include paint thinner, lye, glass
jars, two-liter plastic cola bottles, coffee filters, gallon gasoline
cans, camping fuel, acetone, toluene, kitty litter, rock, epson or
table salt.

Also used are aluminum foil, muriatic acid, barbecue propane tanks,
thermos bottles, anhydrous ammonia, lithium batteries, glass baking
dishes, ether, funnels, microwaves and regular ovens.

The methods of meth production are readily available. ``You can get on
the Internet and find 250 different recipes to manufacture
methamphetamine,'' Orr said.

Meth users even save their urine to filter it to get the meth out that
their bodies do not consume.

What to look for

Orr gave these tips to people who are on the lookout for meth
labs:

* Be aware of the chemical smell like nail polish remover. People who
have been cooking meth emit this smell and it can be found where meth
labs have been operating.

* Look for chemical burns on both adults and children. Also, be
suspicious if children pass out when working out at school or have
excessive nose bleeds.

* If people do not wear gloves when cooking meth, their hands are
stained.

* Be on the lookout for large numbers of containers of the ingredients
used to make meth, such as multiple cold tablet boxes.

* Know that cookers save coffee filters used in the manufacture of
meth and when they run short of money reuse the filters because they
still contain some of the ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. The used
filters will be covered with red phosphorus or white tablet material.

* Be suspicious of people who pay cash to rent units, do not have a
photo ID and go to great lengths to hide their license plate numbers.

* Look for barbecue grill propane tanks with a bluish-green colored
stem. ``The anhydrous ammonia eats the brass valves up. After it is
used so long the tanks will actually explode,'' Orr said.

The East Tennessee Ice Company on Sevierville Road in Maryville has
had a problem with thefts and attempted thefts of ammonia from a tank
on their property. Some of the arrested men came from Clinton to steal
the gas used in meth production.

``Meth crystals are small. Some of the flakes are as small as a pencil
lead,'' Orr said. They are either white or tan in color.

He warned that people who come in contact with meth lab locations or
materials may feel light headed and have respiratory problems. ``If
you got out after a short exposure, there should be no long-term
effect,'' Orr said.

Other items people should be on the lookout for are sex toys and
pornographic materials. Meth causes users to have an increased sexual
appetite at first, but after extended use the appetite and the ability
to perform completely disappears, Townsend Police Chief Ronnie Suttles
explained.

Cleanup costly

``The DEA stepped up when they saw meth labs in the Midwest and said
they would pay for the cleanup. The cleanup cost on these things is
astronomical,'' Orr said.

However, any costs beyond the initial cleanup fall to the property
owner.

``One property owner had to pay $15,000 out of his own pocket to make
a house livable,'' Orr said.

He had to replace the carpet and sheetrock.

``If the property owner is negligent and the next person in the house
becomes ill from chemicals, the property owner is liable for such
things as medical bills,'' Orr warned.

He knows of only one Blount County and two Knox businesses in the
state that sign off when cleanups are complete, certifying that
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines were
met.

The local environmental consulting firm is Helton & Associates on
Topside Road in Louisville.

Children taken away

Since being on the task force, Orr said 17 children have been taken
away from their parents due to the danger of being around meth production.

``Only one has gone back to their parents and that one was in my own
town,'' Orr said. He is not happy with that fact.

``If officers find a meth lab in a motel, putting the lives of other
people in danger, the meth manufacturers can be put in the federal
system. They have to serve 85 percent of their time, not 30 percent
before they can get out on good behavior (under state law),'' Orr said.

Also, if people have three convictions for making meth they can be
placed in the federal system.

To report meth labs or suspicious situations call the task force at
977-7266.

Tomorrow: Methamphetamine, known on the street as the poor man's cocaine,
wrecks lives quickly if addicts don't get treatment.