TENNESSEE OFFERS METH WATCH HOTLINE

BLOUNTVILLE - Anyone who suspects methamphetamine is being produced in
Northeast Tennessee and across the state can now call a new telephone
hotline, officials said Monday.

The state Bureau of Investigation has established Tennessee Meth Watch - a
toll-free telephone number - to field calls about suspected meth labs or
people who purchase the ingredients to make meth, said William Benson,
assistant director of the TBI drug investigation division.

The number is 1-877-TNN-METH.

Benson announced the program in conjunction with local law enforcement
officials during a news conference at the Sullivan County Justice Center.

Methamphetamine, or meth, is manufactured by combining several common
household products, including some types of cold medicine, red phosphorus
matches, acetone, rubbing alcohol, brake cleaner, drain cleaner, salt, lye,
lithium batteries and muriatic acid. Small propane tanks are typically used
to heat or "cook" the mixture.

"At first this hotline was directed at retailers and merchants who sell
these common ingredients, but now we are asking any individual to call us up
if they suspect something," Benson said. "Since we established this with the
retailers, we've gotten about 130 to 140 calls from several parts of the
state."

Callers can remain anonymous, he added.

People making meth either buy large quantities of those products or make
purchases at several stores to avoid suspicion, Benson said.

"It's not somebody buying a box of cold medicine. They're either buying in
bulk or this combination of these precursors," Benson said. "A lot of
merchants are seeing these items stolen off the shelves."

Meth production and addiction now rivals Oxycontin, marijuana and cocaine as
one of the primary drug problems in the state, Benson said.

"We're not talking about something that has to be grown in the jungle. This
can be produced, using common items, just about anywhere," Benson said. "A
lot of people who cook meth make it for themselves and enough profit to pay
for more precursors. But they teach others how to cook it. So it doesn't
only affect the sellers. And it's so addictive that more and more people are
becoming hooked on it."

Each pound of meth produced generates about five pounds of toxic waste that
must be disposed of, Benson said.

Some Tennessee counties have reported finding several hundred meth labs, but
only six have been located in Sullivan County, District Attorney General
Greeley Wells said.

"Over the last six or seven years, we've seen a west to east transfer of
meth labs across Tennessee," Wells said. "For a time, it seemed to settle in
the southeastern portion of the state and along the Cumberland Plateau area.
But in the last 14 months, we've found six meth labs in Sullivan County
alone."

The labs typically are set up in rural locations or inside vehicles because
the chemical gives off an odor while cooking, Wells said.

"The meth labs here have been spread out. We found one in Colonial Heights,
two in Bristol, Bloomingdale, Cook's Valley and an inactive one in Bluff
City," Wells said.

The county's first reported meth lab was found two years ago in downtown
Bluff City near City Hall and an elementary school.