DA ASKS FOR RETAILERS' HELP IN NABBING METH PRODUCERS

PASCAGOULA - District Attorney Keith Miller plans this week to begin a
campaign to get store owners and clerks involved in reporting large
purchases of items that are used to create crystal methamphetamine.

Items that are commonly sold in retail stores are used to create the
popular illegal drug, authorities said, so tracking large purchases or
thefts of these items may help law enforcement officers who are trying to
stop the drug's production.

"This may be the only illegal drug where the business community can have a
real impact on enforcement," Miller said Monday.

The effort, though, comes as a surprise to some full-time drug officers,
who say stores already know to be on the lookout for unusual purchases. "It
slaps law enforcement in the face," said Bruce Lynd, narcotics agent for
the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics' Pascagoula office. Lynd's staff has
been working to educate store owners and others on related drug problems
for at least two years.

And a spokesman for the district attorney's office in Harrison, Hancock and
Stone counties said it has no plans to follow Miller. The spokesman said
law enforcement agencies already coordinate similar efforts.

Miller, though, said he plans a series of meetings with store owners and
clerks to teach them what to look for. Large purchases of lithium
batteries, drain cleaner, camp fuel, coffee filters, denatured alcohol or
the over-the-counter drug pseudoephedrine could indicate someone is buying
supplies for a meth lab, he said.

He has ordered the printing of more than 500 signs to be displayed in
pharmacies and quick stops that let the public know the store is
cooperating in the program and watching out for specific types of
purchases. Miller also is setting up a hotline for stores to fax
information on unusual purchases.

"If we get enough information and pass it on to law enforcement, it may be
enough for a search warrant," Miller said.