METH PROBLEM WILL WORSEN

Federal drug agents warn the problem with methamphetamine production will
only get worse before it gets any better.

East Athens Baptist Church hosted a Meth Awareness Seminar Tuesday night.
McMinn County Sheriff's deputies, members of the Southeast Tennessee
Methamphetamine Taskforce, representatives from the Federal Drug Enforcement
Agency as well as the National Drug Intelligence Center were on hand to
discuss the growing problem as well as offer some of the history of the drug
and its future.

DEA Officer Dave Shelton said the problem came to Tennessee in 1996 when
three different groups of people came from California with the intention of
making meth.

Shelton said the original three groups came to the Cumberland Plateau of
Middle Tennessee and set up cooking. As they grew, they started recruiting
friends to help in the process. The cookers paid their friends with meth,
getting them addicted to the drug.

However, according to Shelton, the cooking process is so easy the friends
learned to cook it themselves and branched off from the original groups.

Shelton said the cycle of cooking, getting others involved and then having
them preparing it themselves made the meth problem spread from Middle
Tennessee outward to the eastern and western parts of the state.

"In a period of two years, the original three groups spawned several other
cooks and by 2000 it had spread to McMinn County," Shelton said.

Last year, 1,100 meth labs were seized in Tennessee with 600 of those being
found in East Tennessee, Shelton said.

And, DEA stats show that Tennessee is number one in the nation for meth lab
seizures, he said.

"There are more of them than there are of us," Shelton said. "It is a big
problem here ... but it will only get worse."

According to Shelton, most people learn how to make meth from another person
by helping them with the process or supplying ingredients and watching the
process.

"It's like watching grandma make cornbread a couple of times and after a
while you can make cornbread just like grandma," he said.

Shelton said meth is easy to make. Ingredients can be obtained at any store,
and the recipe can be found easily in books or over the Internet.

"Your average 14-year-old can cook a batch of meth," he said.

Vince Morgano from the National Drug Intelligence Center said meth isn't
really something new for the area.

Morgano said in the 1970s what is known as meth today was called "speed."

Morgano said the "speed" problem went away because people went from "speed"
to cocaine, which according to Morgano is less addictive.

Morgano said the meth production stayed in California and in the past decade
started working its way east across the country. In 1990 few people in
Tennessee knew what meth was, Morgano added.

According to Morgano, meth use and production normally follows three phases.
In the first, the meth labs prosper and the customer base grows.

The second phase consists of large quantities of meth coming from giant labs
in California and Mexico, bringing in a cheaper quality product.

The third phase is the introduction of crystal meth into an area. Crystal
meth is a more refined and super addictive form of meth.

"The picture is not bright," Morgano said. "We have our work cut out for
us."

Shelton said although it's easy to make, the production of meth is
dangerous. Many of the ingredients are highly flammable or explosive, which
leads to fires or explosions at lab locations.

Other byproducts of the production are harmful and potentially lethal gases.
Phospheen gas is a byproduct of meth production which settles around floor
of a lab and is very deadly. Shelton pointed out when phospheen gases settle
low to the ground, it endangers everyone, but especially children, who are
in the labs which are often set up in private homes.

McMinn County Sheriff's Lt. Bill Farmer said when a lab is seized and
children are present, the first step at the scene is to contact the
Department of Children's Services.

The children are then taken to the hospital for a medical screening and then
placed in a safe environment. A meth lab with children present can also lead
to charges of child abuse.

Farmer said the smell of meth being produced is different from anything else
he's ever smelled and it's often the key to finding a lab. He urged those
present at the seminar that if they smell a strange chemical odor they
should contact the police.

Farmer said personal symptoms of meth exposure or abuse include long periods
without rest, tremendous weight loss, gray skin, sores on the body from
exposure to chemicals and a chemical smell on clothing.

Farmer said when a lab is found, a letter is posted on the door warning that
the house could possibly be contaminated with meth byproducts. A similar
letter is sent to the Register of Deeds, the Health Department and several
other agencies. The property owner is responsible for getting the location
properly decontaminated, which could cost anywhere from $3,000 to $100,000.

Properties have to be properly cleaned before renting or selling, or the
property owner is liable if the new occupant gets sick from contaminants
left behind after a lab.

"It's a hassle and it hurts innocent homeowners," Shelton said.

Sheriff's Detective B.J. Johnson added, "We take decontamination seriously.
We have an outside decontamination shower at the Justice Center where anyone
from a lab is taken through before they taken in with other inmates. We also
have to go through decontamination after being at a lab."