Pubdate: Sun, 01 Jul 2001
Source: Reason Magazine (US)
Copyright: 2001 The Reason Foundation
Contact:  http://www.reason.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/359
Author: Sara Rimensnyder

BETTY CROCKER'S CRYSTAL METH

"Most people, unfortunately, don't know anything about how methamphetamine 
is made." That's for sure. But it's surprising to hear such a statement 
coming from an agent of the Indiana Drug Enforcement Association: Gary 
Ashenfelter, speaking to the Associated Press.

Ashenfelter was commenting on Indiana's new plan to curb meth production. 
In stores across the state, police officers are taping up posters listing 
the ingredients needed to make the drug, also known as crystal, ice, and 
perhaps a dozen other names. You might think that such a poster could 
create a fresh crop of trailer-park chemists. But that's not the plan. Cops 
are hoping that shop clerks will report customers making "suspicious" 
purchases of a variety of typical supermarket items.

You see, like lemonade, meth is cheap and easy to make -- but a great deal 
more profitable. Ashenfelter says the production and use of methamphetamine 
has climbed wildly in Indiana in recent years. In 2001, he predicts, 
Indiana police officers will bust 800 labs.

The informational poster now in Indiana stores lists -- cover your eyes -- 
such everyday ingredients as acetone, coffee filters, cold medicine, drain 
cleaners, lithium batteries, and lye.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth