METH PRODUCERS MAKING ROAD TRIPS

Drug Ingredients More Easily Gathers Outside Kentucky

In Georgia, a person can walk into a drug store, buy five packages of cold
medicine and walk out the door without the clerk or area police raising an
eyebrow.

In Kentucky, the same scenario could lead to the arrest of the clerk and
the customer on felony drug charges.

The difference? Many cold medicines contain pseudoephedrine, which can be
used to produce methamphetamine. Last year, only 17 methamphetamine labs
were seized in Georgia while nearly 300 were seized in Kentucky, according
to Drug Enforcement Administration statistics.

As Kentucky has taken steps to limit access to this primary ingredient in
methamphetamine, manufacturers of the drug have looked to neighboring
states to gather materials.

But with methamphetamine use and production continuing to spread through
the South and Midwest, more states are working to stifle methamphetamine
production at the source as Kentucky has.

Daviess County Sheriff Keith Cain said narcotics investigators have found
evidence indicating meth cooks are going to other states to gather enough
cold medicine to make batches of methamphetamine.

"We'll find receipts after transactions where people will make a circuit
through southern Indiana," Cain said.

In some cases, suspects have bought just a few packs of cold medicine in
Tell City, Ind., then in Evansville, before traveling to buy more in
Henderson and then in Owensboro, he said.

Sgt. Brock Peterson, supervisor of the Owensboro Police Department's street
crimes unit, said the ability of meth cookers to obtain pseudoephedrine
from nearby states is a significant problem.

"Basically, because other states don't have the methamphetamine problem we
have, they don't know," Peterson said. "It's an ongoing battle."

On Sept. 30, Kentucky State Police investigators working off of a tip
arrested two Lewisport residents who they said had been making trips from
Owensboro to Georgia to obtain large amounts of pseudoephedrine.

According to their indictments, 51-year-old Dennis B. Cartwright and
25-year-old Vanessa Lynn Jennings had bought nearly 7,000 pills containing
pseudoephedrine from a wholesaler in Atlanta to bring back to Kentucky.

The pair were indicted Nov. 11 on charges of criminal attempt to
manufacture methamphetamine and unlawful possession of a methamphetamine
precursor.

"We've not seen a tremendous amount of those (types of cases)," Cain said.
"But certainly there are individuals who can identify those sources."

Often, methamphetamine users will gather the ingredients to trade for the
finished product, Peterson said. Meth cooks need between 1,000 and 1,500
pills to manufacture an ounce of methamphetamine, he said.

Peterson said there have also been cases where meth producers will send
people to Nashville to round up the needed ingredients.

"There's a whole subculture," he said. "It gets to be a fairly large circle
of people."

In 2002, Kentucky took steps to stifle the production of methamphetamine in
the state with legislation criminalizing the sale or possession of large
quantities of pseudoephedrine.

Except for pharmacists or distributors, possession of more than 24 grams of
ephedrine or pseudoephedrine was established as evidence of intent to
manufacture methamphetamine, and is now a felony.

Also, the distribution of products containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine
to someone they know will use it to produce methamphetamine or with
reckless disregard for how the products will be used also became a felony.

After Indiana's Methamphetamine Abuse Task Force issued its report late
last month, Indiana state Rep. Trent Van Haaften proposed regulating the
supply of over-the-counter cold medicines to crack down on methamphetamine
production.

The proposed legislation would require retailers to store cold medication
behind the counter, require purchasers to provide valid photo
identification and sign for the products, and limit the number a people who
could buy in a specific period of time.

In Tennessee, state legislation established a "meth watch" program, which
is a voluntary program through which retailers are educated about the sale
of products commonly used to manufacture methamphetamine and encouraged to
monitor the sale of those products.

Elizabeth Assey with the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which
sponsors the national Meth Watch program, said the program was modeled
after one in Kansas and has now expanded to eight states.

"It's really about educating retailers, getting them involved with law
enforcement, and helping the community understand," Assey said. "It is a
piece of the overall solution."

Peterson said many Daviess County retailers have already been practicing
much of what Meth Watch advocates, including limiting sales of cold
medicine to two packages, keeping the products behind the counter and
alerting police to customers going from store to store to purchase cold
medicine.

"I think several retail stores here have done a super job of letting us
know," Peterson said. "Most of the stores are self-regulating."

Kentucky Rep. Brent Yonts, who represents Muhlenberg, Christian and Hopkins
counties, proposed legislation this year similar to that proposed by Van
Haaften, but it met resistance from retailers.

Yonts said he is hoping to propose legislation next year to establish a
meth watch program in Kentucky, which he hopes will be better received.

"I think there will be something happening this time," Yonts said.