METH'S LEFTOVER DANGER

Midwestern Drug Labs Contain Costly Hazards for Police Who Clean Them Up

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The crackdown on methamphetamine production in the
Midwest has left a rural countryside pocked with abandoned and
destroyed labs.

Hidden away in barns and farmhouses and trailers, the residue of
illicit meth labs has leaked toxic chemicals into ditches and farm
fields.

Indiana will spend millions this year cleaning more than 800 meth
labs, a considerable increase from 1994, when drug officials found
only four. Kentucky and other Midwest states have seen similar
increases in recent years.

The production of one pound of methamphetamine typically creates six
pounds of hazardous waste, according to the Drug Enforcement
Administration. An average lab costs $4,500 to clean up.

"That waste can include corrosive liquids, acid vapors, solvents and
other materials that can attack mucous membranes, skin, eyes and the
respiratory tract," DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson said during a
summer stop in Lexington.

Meth making is popular because ingredients are cheap and easy to get.
Drain cleaner and lithium batteries, both used to make meth, can be
found on shelves in grocery stores and gas stations.

But "they're very harmful if utilized in the wrong way," said Tony
King, resident agent in charge at the Drug Enforcement Administration
office in Louisville.

The dangers of another ingredient, anhydrous ammonium, which often is
stolen from farmers' fields, cannot be underestimated, said Detective
Joe Moran of the Owensboro Police Department

"It just saturates the human body and burns the hide off of you,"
Moran said.

Police officers handling meth cases face dangers foreign to other
types of drug busts.

"If you go in and find a stash of marijuana, cocaine or heroin, you
don't have to wear a $2,000 hazardous materials suit to go in and make
a seizure," Hutchinson said.

Some examples of meth dangers:

. Outside Bowling Green, authorities this summer found six tanks
containing 4,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonium buried in a pit in a
barn. It took four days to withdraw and about $15,000 to $20,000 to
clean up, King said.

. In Utica, Ky., state troopers went door-to-door last year to
evacuate homes after a botched theft of anhydrous ammonium. A Western
Kentucky highway was shut down and seven people who inhaled ammonia
were treated at a hospital.

. In April, about 20 people were evacuated from Westwood Elementary
School in New Castle, Ind., after officers stopped a pickup driven by
a suspected meth maker. Officers reported strong ammonia fumes.
Anhydrous ammonium was found in the back.

Lab explosions have gutted houses and apartments and burned motel
rooms. A few years ago, before the dangers were known, law enforcement
officers in street clothes would dismantle the labs, sometimes tossing
them into the trunk of a police car, King said.

He recalls being called to small police stations and finding meth labs
on desktops.

"Your eyes would get really big and you'd say, 'Chief So-and-So, we'd
better evacuate the building,' " King said.

Today, officers wear suits with masks and gloves to dismantle labs,
while an ambulance and fire engine wait nearby. Many officers handling
the labs have extensive training and regular lung and liver screenings.

Vanderburgh County Sheriff Brad Ells-worth said some of the meth cooks
are smart enough to use gloves and other protective gear.

But "after using that much dope, they aren't always the most
well-thought-out planners," Ellsworth said.