Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jan 2003
Source: Herald-Citizen (TN)
Copyright: 2003 Herald-Citizen, a division of Cleveland Newspapers, Inc
Contact:  http://www.herald-citizen.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1501
Author: Mary Jo Denton, Herald-Citizen Staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH AWARENESS MEETING SET FOR TOMORROW NIGHT

What does that dangerous drug meth smell like? Would you know it if someone 
next door was "cooking" it in your neighborhood? The Putnam Sheriff's 
Department and the Cookeville Housing Authority want as many people as 
possible to know the answers to those questions and others about the 
dangers of illegal drugs.

They are sponsoring a public awareness meeting on the subject tomorrow night.

Set for Jan. 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Cookeville Community Center on Carlen 
Drive, the meeting is titled "The Meth Lab Next Door: the Effects on You 
and Your Children."

Is the hope of Putnam Sheriff David Andrews and Detective Greg Whittaker 
that it will help increase public awareness about the growing meth problem 
here.

"We want to educate the public for safety purposes and also so that more 
citizens can know what to look for and let us know about to investigate," 
said Detective Whittaker.

"We want to tell everybody what meth smells like, what chemicals they might 
see around a place where it is being manufactured, and what to do when they 
do suspect they are near it.

"But it's not easy to describe what the stuff smells like, as it seems to 
smell like different things to different people. It's just a very dominant 
chemical odor, such as the odor of paint stripper."

The fumes from meth make many people sick, and they can be deadly. There is 
also the danger of fire and explosions anywhere the drug is being cooked.

And while many meth cookers carry the "lab" components around in vehicles 
and set up in apartments or motel rooms or other places, a good many today 
are also "cooking out in the open," Detective Whittaker said.

"We are starting to see signs they are cooking the stuff outdoors, maybe 
out in the woods," he said.

Because the problem is growing here, many people may be in danger from 
meth's fumes or other risks without knowing it, he said.

"We just want to raise the public awareness about meth so they can help us 
more by letting us know where it is being manufactured," Whittaker said.

The public awareness meeting will also include information about other 
illegal drugs and how citizens can help law enforcers fight the problem, he 
said.

Guests who will offer information at the session include representatives 
from the Tennessee National Guard, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and Dr. 
Sullivan Smith, an emergency medicine physician who works extensively with 
law officers here.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom