DEA DRAFTS STORES IN WAR AGAINST DRUGS

Law enforcement officials are expanding their statewide campaign to remove
the basic ingredients used to make methamphetamine from the hands of
underground cooks.

The Utah Attorney General and officials from the Drug Enforcement
Administration are holding 11 seminars across Utah that will inform
retailers of the combinations of items needed for methamphetamine production.

"We're not asking retailers to be law enforcement officers," said Barry
Jamison, the DEA's agent in charge of Utah. "We're asking them to be our
eyes and ears."

The chemicals that officials hope retailers will watch for include cold
medicine, packs of matches, funnels, coffee filters, cat litter, baking
soda, batteries and drain cleaner. The one ingredient needed for meth
production that isn't available at a grocery store is iodine.

"Meth cooks use these things to brew up their poison," said Mark Shurtleff,
the Utah Attorney General. "If you can't buy it, you can't make it."

The two agencies began a crackdown on the sale of precursor chemicals by
hosting a conference for Salt Lake County food retailers in February 2001.
They also arrested a handful of convenience store workers who were
allegedly selling large quantities of cold medicine for methamphetamine
produc-tion.

With the success of the February conference, the DEA and Attorney General
are focusing on the rest of the state.