US ATTORNEY TELLS MERCHANTS ABOUT METH

The Upper Cumberland area is in the top two or three meth producing
places in the nation, a federal prosecutor said here yesterday.
"That's not something the Chamber of Commerce wants for a community,"
said U.S. Attorney Jim Vines, the chief federal prosecutor for the
Middle District of Tennessee, a man who has sent several area
residents to prison for meth crimes.

"Meth is a drug crime that does not come to us from some South
American country -- all the materials come from retail establishments,
whether it's the big Wal-Mart stores or the little food mart down the
street," Vines said.

He was speaking at a special meth awareness conference held here at
the Cookeville campus of the Nashville State Community College on Neal
Street.

The conference was for the purpose of educating area merchants on the
dangers of the synthetic drug and the legal dangers of selling large
quantities of the common ingredients used to "cook" meth.

"Meth is a 'homegrown' drug which is being made in backwoods Tennessee
with products and supplies found in local stores, and you need to be
very careful about consolidating and supplying the ingredients in
large quantities," Vines told the 30 to 40 merchants and sales clerks
who attended the two-hour seminar.

"When retailers participate -- even by turning a blind eye and selling
large quantities of the items commonly used to make meth -- they can
be prosecuted," Vines said.

He told about a Smithville store owner who is currently serving a
five-year federal prison sentence for buying and selling ingredients
used to make meth.

"Elmus Johnson was buying large quantities of ephedrine and making it
available to meth makers, and he is now in prison for five years," he
said.

"We know that 99 percent of our merchants are good citizens. But then
there's that other one percent, the rogues wanting to make big bucks."

Meth is the worst drug causing the worst problems he and other
prosecutors have ever encountered in their work, Vines said.

"Some people like to say it's the modern day moonshine, but this ain't
moonshine. It's the most disgusting, dirty business you can imagine,
and it hurts children, destroys families and neighborhoods, and
contaminates the countryside."

The merchants were asked to take notice of frequent or large purchases
of the various products that meth cookers use and to limit the
quantities sold at one time.

"Make them go to 45 different stores," Vines said. "Make it as
difficult as possible for them."

A poster handed out to the merchants lists common items used in the
making of meth: acetone, aluminum foil, anhydrous ammonia, brake
cleaner, camping fuel, coffee filters, denatured alcohol, drain
cleaner, engine starter fluid, ether, ephedrine/psuedoephedrine
products, funnels, gasoline additives, iodine, lithium batteries, lye,
matches, methanol, muriatic acid, paint thinner, propane tanks, red
phosphorus, rubber tubing, rubbing alcohol, sodium hydroxide, sodium
metal, sulfuric acid, table or rock salt.

Also at the conference to detail for the merchants one of the most
devastating results of meth abuse was Betsy Dunn, Children's Services
social worker. She told how the drug is damaging children.

Last year, 179 Upper Cumberland children were removed from meth homes
and placed in the custody of the state for their own protection, and
through the first three months of this year, a total of 40 children
were removed from meth homes, she said.

"I've interviewed children who were able to tell me how meth is made
and where their parents go to buy the ingredients," she said

"They can describe that 'yukky' smell it has. And it's not uncommon to
find the oldest child, maybe a six or seven year old, who has become
the primary caregiver, not just to the younger children, but also to
the adults in a family."

She said many times, meth addicts don't even show up in court to fight
losing their children because they are so far gone that "only the drug
matters to them."

Dr. Sullivan Smith, an emergency medicine physician here who works
closely with the 13th District Drug Task Force, told the merchants
that meth at first makes its users "feel like Superman."

"They can do everything in the world, they think. They have an
incredible feeling of well being."

But the high wears off, and the addiction is so fast and so complete
that users soon begin to experience the severe effects, including
hallucinations, paranoia, and horrible physical sensations such as the
feeling that "bugs" are crawling under their skin. They often pick at
those "bugs" to the point of causing numerous sores on their bodies,
Smith said.

Cookeville Police Chief Bob Terry also addressed the merchants,
commenting at one point on the fact that federal laws dealing with
meth have much stiffer penalties than state laws.

"We find a much greater impact if we can get these cases to the
federal system, and the U.S. attorney's office here has been very
cooperative in helping us make cases correctly," Terry said.

Putnam Sheriff David Andrews was unable to attend the conference due
to a schedule conflict, but he sent a letter thanking the merchants
for attending.

"I've never seen anything so devastating as meth -- to people and to
the community," he wrote. "It is driving a lot of our other crime, and
we need you to join with us to fight it."

The merchants were encouraged to contact police if they suspect
customers are buying large quantities of certain items to make meth.