Pubdate: Mon, 04 Aug 2003
Source: Elizabethton Star (TN)
Copyright: 2003 Elizabethton Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.starhq.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1478
Author: Kathy Helms-Hughes

DA UPS ANTE ON METH PRODUCERS UNDER ANTI-TERRORISM LAW

Members of the 1st Judicial District Drug Task Force have broken up nearly 
30 methamphetamine laboratories since the beginning of this year, including 
10 in the month of May alone, according to DTF Director Kenneth Phillips. 
Across the mountain in Boone, N.C., Watauga County law enforcement 
officials have dismantled 24 meth labs since January. Watauga County 
District Attorney Jerry Wilson is not very happy with that number, 
especially since meth labs are not one of the sights tourists flock to see 
in the High Country. In an effort to send a message to the manufacturers of 
methamphetamine, Wilson has begun charging meth lab operators under North 
Carolina's Article 36B, Section 14-288.21, the state anti-terrorism law 
which was passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The statute governs 
nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons of mass destruction, including 
"any weapon, device or method that is designed or has the capability to 
cause death or serious injury through the release, dissemination, or impact 
of radiation or radioactivity, a disease organism, or toxic or poisonous 
chemicals or their immediate precursors." Wilson believes the toxic nature 
of the chemicals used to manufacture meth, and the toxic gases created as a 
byproduct of the cooking process, make the North Carolina statute 
applicable to the crime. District Attorney General Joe Crumley and DTF 
Director Phillips are watching the North Carolina cases closely to see 
whether such a law might have merit in Tennessee. Persons found guilty of 
violating the North Carolina anti-terrorism law are guilty of a Class B1 
felony, which carries a minimum 12-year sentence up to life in prison, 
depending on prior criminal history. Most of the meth manufacturing cases 
still are making their way through the court system in both states, 
therefore, it is too early to tell what kind of punishment the perpetrators 
will receive if found guilty.

Or whether North Carolina's anti-terrorism meth cases will hold up in court 
before a judge and jury. But with the increasing number of meth labs being 
found, Wilson said, "It became obvious that our law, as it existed, was 
insufficient to deal with the problem.

It's a brand new problem for North Carolina. We were arresting people, 
bringing them in, and they were bonding out and going right back to the 
same thing.

We ended up arresting people two and three times before they even went to 
trial on these charges." North Carolina's statutes before the 
anti-terrorism law took effect "were not something that obviously concerned 
these folks," he said. "So what we did was up the ante." Methamphetamine is 
different from other drugs, according to Wilson, in that once it's 
manufactured, "you have the problem that is inherent with any drug -- it 
affects society, it affects the user. But at the same time, methamphetamine 
is different in that the process of manufacturing it also produces large 
amounts of extremely dangerous chemicals which are left behind long after 
the manufacture is finished. "And it is that part of the crime that we are 
going after with the chemical weapons statute," Wilson said. There are 
three chemicals common to all meth labs, he said. "The three that we're 
going after are phosphine gas, iodine crystals, and hydrochloric gas." 
Wilson said that in the red phosphorus method of producing meth, the 
phosphorous strike plates on matchbook covers are torn off and soaked in an 
alcohol solution. "By doing that, the alcohol, in effect, breaks down the 
glue that holds the phosphorus. In these places you'll find hundreds and 
thousands of matchbooks. "It takes a long time to do it. If you just let it 
sit there, it makes phosphine gas -- but not a lot. But what they do to 
speed it up is heat it. And when you heat it, that's when the phosphine gas 
pours out." Crews who specialize in cleanup of hazardous wastes must be 
called out to clean up meth labs. In North Carolina, "You're talking, at 
the very minimum, $1,500 to clean it up; and it normally runs $5,000 to 
$10,000," Wilson said. In Tennessee, Phillips said the cost is usually 
between $5,000 and $8,000. "One pound of meth produces five to six pounds 
of these toxic chemicals," Wilson said. "What they're doing while they're 
cooking is these folks take precautions to protect themselves. But then 
after they're through with it, they throw it out in the yard, flush it down 
the commode, pour it down the sink, throw it in the rivers. "We found one 
that had been thrown in the green box behind the cancer center here at the 
hospital.

I don't know if the air induction system could pull that in or not, but I 
don't want to take a chance, especially in a place like that," he said. 
"We've got meth labs everywhere. We've got them in houses, we've got a few 
trailers, motel rooms, back seats of cars. You name it, we've had a meth 
lab there. "I don't know what kind of ecological damage it's going to have, 
but certainly it can't be good. And certainly it's being left in places 
that innocent people can be exposed to it. In a motel room, you move in 
behind them to take the kids to Tweetsie and suddenly you're breathing 
phosphine gas and don't even know it," Wilson said. According to Phillips, 
1st DTF law enforcement officers have found meth labs in cars, but, so far, 
none in motel rooms. An incident in Watauga County this past spring 
illustrates some of the dangers associated with the labs, according to 
Wilson. Six firefighters were injured after they responded to a fire call 
at what turned out to be a meth lab inside a house. "The phosphine gas fell 
to the floor, and when they went in looking for hot spots, one fireman was 
severely, severely injured.

He's a young man that's now lost 85 percent of his lung capacity," Wilson 
said. His office is working in cooperation with the Department of Social 
Services to take children out of homes where meth labs are found. "We, 
along with DSS, have set up a group trying to work with the children.

We've got at least eight in DSS custody who have been taken out of these 
houses," Wilson said. Meth labs also are having an impact on housing in the 
High Country. "Watauga County land prices are just astronomical. Affordable 
housing here is a real problem.

As of two weeks ago, the health department has now set at least eight 
houses that they cannot let people occupy because of the labs that were 
located in them. They can't get anybody to certify them safe for 
occupation," Wilson said. "Our county depends so much on tourism and on 
bringing people in to see the area. That is not a welcome thing to have 
this sort of activity going on in the county, not for anybody," he said.
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