DANGERS LINGER AFTER METH IS GONE

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

Hidden away in barns and farm houses 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 labs.
Kentucky and other Midwest states have seen similar increases in recent years.

The production of just 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 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.

- -- In Utica, state police 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.

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 Ellsworth 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.