Pubdate: Wed, 29 Nov 2000
Source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (TX)
Copyright: 2000 The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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Author: Michael Gaffney

RECIPE FOR CRIME AVAILABLE ONLINE

People can publish instructions for manufacturing illegal drugs on the 
Internet with impunity because First Amendment rights protect free speech, 
and the Internet provides "invisibility," law officials said Monday.

So-called "Nazi" methamphetamine labs are sprouting up in greater numbers 
across Texas. Some of those labs may be using recipes for the drug posted 
on the Internet, said one U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent. But 
it is not a crime to publish those recipes online.

Lonny Watson, resident agent-in-charge of the DEA's Lubbock office, said 
methamphetamine labs are being seized in ever-greater numbers, but the 
Internet is more of a factor than a cause.

"We do know that information is on the Internet and is available to people 
to learn how to do that ('Nazi method')," Watson said. "None of our 
defendants here have said this, but there have been cases where defendants 
have said that they got the recipe from the Internet."

All it takes is couple of keywords typed into some search engines on the 
Internet to find a recipe.

The "Nazi method" of cooking methamphetamine, or speed, originated with 
German scientists in the late 1930s who developed a stimulant that soldiers 
could easily cook in the field.

In Watson's jurisdiction, which encompasses the Panhandle region, speed lab 
seizures went from two in 1988, to 10 in 1999. And in the first month of 
this fiscal year, the DEA seized five labs, Watson said.

However, blaming the Internet for the trend toward increasing numbers of 
methamphetamine labs would be illogical, said Texas Tech Professor Rodrick 
Schoen.

And if a person were arrested for putting illegal drug recipes on the 
Internet, proving intent to commit a crime would be difficult, at best, 
Schoen said.

An expert in constitutional law, Schoen added that, publishing such 
information is not completely risk-free.

"There are some cases in the federal courts where the courts themselves 
have said that certain forms of published materials on how to commit a 
crime could subject the author to criminal liability for aiding and 
abetting a criminal offense," he said. "I think it's a poor sport not worth 
the candle, for the government to try to prevent publication of information 
that they think is dangerous.

"The best protection for our society is the general deterrence of the 
criminal law. If someone, in fact, makes methamphetamine, then they can be 
prosecuted for that."

One U.S. attorney agreed.

People may put information on the Internet that results in illegal 
activity, but proving that the author of the information had criminal 
intent is a legal challenge with very low odds for success, said Tanya 
Pierce, assistant U.S. attorney and the lead attorney for the area's 
Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.

"It's not as easy as a yes or no answer," Pierce said. "There's not a law 
that says 'thou shall not publish methamphetamine information.' But there's 
an aiding-and-abetting statute that can be applied to any federal violation 
of law."

No federal prosecutors have tackled the challenge, as far as Pierce knows.

Two issues stifle legal action against people who disseminate information 
that may lead to criminal acts, Pierce said. The hurdles are positive 
identification, and the First Amendment, which are very high hurdles, she said.

She recalled a child pornography case that involved a man who wrote 
"disgusting" things on his computer that he intended to share with other 
pedophiles, Pierce said. But she could not add the offensive language or 
ideas to the man's rap sheet.

"When we seized the guy's computer it had pictures on there, but it also 
had a lot of writing that was horrible," Pierce said. "Disgusting things 
that people said they would do to kids. It was very frustrating because 
people can hide behind that computer so easily, so identity was the big issue.

"I couldn't prove he wrote it. It's not like a fingerprint or handwriting 
analysis, or an eyewitness. It's difficult to prove who did what on the 
Internet."

So Internet sites that provide a list of the necessary materials for 
production of methamphetamine, as well as step-by-step instructions on how 
to manufacture the drug, are no different than printed materials that 
contain the same information, and which can be found in most libraries, 
said Watson, the DEA agent.

"The information is out there and it can be accessed through a lot of 
sources," he said. "So it would be difficult for us to say the trend here 
is to use the Internet, as opposed to going to the public library, or as 
opposed to somebody you're associated with teaching you how to do it."

Despite the rise in meth lab seizures in Texas, the state is better off 
than its neighbor states, Watson said.

"I think people are looking at it from the standpoint of hopefully keeping 
it from reaching the level it's reached in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, 
where they've had a lot of labs," he said. "To put it in perspective, I 
think the entire state of Oklahoma is not a whole lot bigger than the area 
we cover in the Lubbock office. Yet they've had more labs than the entire 
state of Texas - about twice as many - seized."

Justin Boatright of Lubbock, who was arrested in November for 
methamphetamine production, had a written recipe, Pierce said. But where he 
got it, no one knows.

Like any process, it takes information to manufacture methamphetamine. But 
information is ubiquitous and the method of delivering information is not 
the problem, Pierce said.

"I don't disagree with the statement that the Internet contributes to the 
meth lab problem," she said. "Anything that gives your average Joe more 
access to that information is going to contribute to the (methamphetamine) 
boom.

"But it used to be, before this Nazi method came to the forefront, where 
you had to use chemicals, and there were underground books on how to make 
methamphetamine. They've been available forever, and I'm sure many people 
made many pounds of methamphetamine before. But I've never seen anyone 
prosecuted for those books."
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