CLERKS GO ON ALERT FOR METH MAKERS

Program Aims To Nab Customers Buying Drug Ingredients

If you're buying Sudafed or some other medicine for allergies these
days, don't be surprised if the store clerk gives you a second look.
And if you're also buying bleach, matches and coffee filters, the clerk
might follow you into the parking lot, write down your license plate
number and call the police.

The call won't necessarily prompt the police to follow you home, said
Sgt. Eric Schober of the Portland police Drugs and Vice Division.
But, Schober said, the police might run a background check if you appear
to be buying a lot of the items.

"If you're buying enough, we might check you out," he said.
That could be one possible result of Meth Watch, a new program announced
Monday to help combat the epidemic of methamphetamine abuse that law
enforcement say is sweeping the state.

The Meth Watch program aims to discourage large-quantity purchases of
precursor ingredients - such as the pseudoephedrine found in Sudafed and
other over-the-counter allergy medicines - that are used to manufacture
meth, a highly addictive drug. Under the program, retail employees will
be taught to identify products that can be used to produce meth and to
help law enforcement agencies identify customers who appear to be buying
large quantities of them.

If particular customers are buying large quantities of such products,
the employees are instructed to try to identify them and pass their
names onto law enforcement agencies.

This is the case even when customers are repeatedly buying small
quantities of the items. Participating businesses also will post Meth
Watch signs in their stores saying they are part of the program.
Although Sudafed, bleach, matches and coffee filters may be common
household items, law enforcement officials say they also are used by
criminals to produce meth. "They might not sound like anything special
by themselves, but if you know what you're doing, you can use them all
to make a very crude form of meth," said Lt. Mike Shults of the
Multnomah County sheriff's office. "Meth is everybody's problem.

It's an issue that affects families, children, the environment and
society as a whole," Oregon U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut said at a
Monday morning news conference to announce the program. Immergut and
other law enforcement officials describe meth use as the state's most
serious illegal drug problem.

They believe meth addicts are responsible for most property and
identity theft crimes in Oregon. In addition, the process used to
create meth produces toxic waste chemicals that contaminate houses,
apartments and even cars where the ad hoc laboratories are hidden.
Meth production is increasing dramatically throughout the state,
including Portland, according to Lt. Craig Durbin, commander of the
Drug Enforcement Section of the Oregon State Police. For example,
Durbin says 83 meth labs have been seized in Portland so far this
year, compared to 53 for all of 2003. "We're seeing a pretty sharp
increase in labs, even though we're losing drug teams because of
budget cuts," Durbin said.

Statewide support

The news conference to announce the Meth Watch program was held at
Safeway's new Museum Place store in downtown Portland. It was attended
by federal, state and local law enforcement officials, along with
representatives of the Oregon Partnership, a nonprofit anti-drug
program that is coordinating the effort. "Meth Watch is needed to
discourage the bad guys in our society who are making meth," Safeway
public relations director Bridget Flanagan said. According to Craig
Campbell, a senior policy adviser for Gov. Ted Kulongoski, more than
350 Oregon businesses have signed up for the voluntary program.

In addition to Safeway, they included Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Rite Aid,
Thriftway, Longs Drug Stores, Kmart, Minute Markets, OK Market,
Country Store and the Korean Grocers' Association. Meth Watch also has
a Web site, www.oregonmethwatch.org, that provides more information on
the problems caused by meth and how to get involved in the program.

Spreading the word

Although the Meth Watch program is new, the Oregon Legislature already
has taken steps to control the sale of products used to create meth.
State law currently prohibits anyone from buying more than 9 grams of
allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine at a time. The law
prohibits retailers from selling more than that amount - usually 60
tablets - during a single transaction. Any product that contains more
than 2 percent iodine also is restricted by Oregon law. According to
the state police's Durbin, all jail and prison inmates will be told
that the Meth Watch program is under way. "We want them to know that
if they try to make meth when they get out, there's a good chance
someone will be watching them," Durbin said.