Pubdate: Fri, 02 May 2003
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright: 2003 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.stltoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/418
Author: Matthew Hathaway
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

MORE METH COOKS ARE MAKING THEIR OWN AMMONIA, POLICE SAY

Narcotics investigators are seeing a troubling trend that could put more 
methamphetamine on the streets and make the secret labs that produce the 
highly addictive drug even more dangerous.

Although there are several different ways to make the drug, police say most 
meth cooks in the area use recipes requiring anhydrous ammonia, an 
agricultural fertilizer that many meth cooks call "juice." Drugmakers often 
steal the hazardous chemical from farmers, but police say more cooks are 
starting to make their own juice from materials they can buy legally.

Making meth is difficult and dangerous work, but making anhydrous ammonia 
can be even more complex and risky. Police believe a home in Overland 
caught fire this year after the recipe went awry, and they expect more 
fires, explosions and chemical burns as meth cooks start to make their own 
anhydrous ammonia.

Meth is a powerful stimulant that can be smoked, injected or taken in pill 
form. In recent years, use of the drug has exploded across the Midwest, 
especially in Missouri. The state leads the nation in meth raids and 
seizures, with 2,725 recorded last year alone. In Illinois, authorities 
made 525 seizures last year, up from about 229 the year before. The state 
now ranks ninth in the number of meth raids.

Capt. Scott Reed, a drug investigator for the Missouri State Highway 
Patrol, recently raided two meth labs in St. Francois County where cooks 
were making their own anhydrous ammonia. He calls homemade anhydrous 
ammonia "the next big thing in Missouri meth."

An investigator for a meth task force in St. Louis County, who asked not to 
be identified, said police raided a lab making anhydrous ammonia in Lemay 
this year. He fears this practice could become a trend.

"This will catch on," he said. "When (meth cooks) get together ... they're 
going to teach each other how to do this."

Cpl. Don Mestemacher, head of the Jefferson County drug task force, said 
that police there have caught drug suspects with ingredients for anhydrous 
ammonia, but "we haven't caught anybody actually making it yet."

In Illinois, homemade anhydrous ammonia is still an anomaly, according to 
Master Sgt. Bruce Liebe with Illinois State Police.

"When I first heard a report a few months back about (homemade anhydrous 
ammonia) from an officer in Mississippi, I thought, 'Why the heck would 
anybody do this when there's so much anhydrous out there that they could 
steal?'" Liebe said.

"Then, within two weeks we had a case where two guys in Taylorville, in 
Christian County, tried to pull the process off but were unsuccessful."

Attempts to make the fertilizer often end in failure, but Detective Jason 
Grellner, head of a three-man narcotics unit in the Franklin County 
Sheriff's Department, says the rewards outweigh the risks for most meth 
cooks. Grellner says he is sure cooks already are taking that risk in 
Franklin County, one of the state's top meth-producing counties.

Grellner said that cooks making their own anhydrous ammonia can save money 
and that they are less likely to be caught by police.

Higher awareness of meth and its ingredients is making it harder to steal 
anhydrous ammonia. As a result, the chemical's black-market price can top 
$100 a gallon, a huge markup. Also, police arrest hundreds of suspected 
meth cooks every year who are caught transporting stolen anhydrous ammonia 
or storing it in unlawful containers.

Making anhydrous ammonia doesn't require an advanced knowledge of chemistry 
or hard-to-find ingredients. A popular recipe calls for ammonia salt found 
in garden fertilizers, drain opener and water. Just like making meth, all a 
cook needs is a detailed recipe, which can be found online, and a 
willingness to risk injury or worse.

Christopher Boldt, a chemist with the Missouri Department of Natural 
Resources, says making anhydrous ammonia is a lot like driving a car.

"If someone shows you how to do it, you can do it," he said. "But you don't 
know why it works and - if you don't really know what you're doing - you 
don't know what to do when something goes wrong."

A lot of things can go wrong. Anhydrous ammonia generators - the devices 
cooks craft from bottles, buckets and tubes to make the chemical - can 
explode. If enough gas escapes from the generator, it can burn, 
incapacitate or kill those nearby.

Boldt said that the process used by meth cooks to make anhydrous ammonia 
also leaves behind a corrosive byproduct that could injure people exposed 
to it and hurt the environment.

Police say there is another problem with the homemade fertilizer: It could 
lead to bigger drug labs that produce pounds rather than ounces of 
methamphetamine.

For the recipe that makes the most powerful and sought-after meth, 
anhydrous ammonia is the only ingredient that can't be bought legally. 
Because the fertilizer is the most difficult ingredient to get, it often 
limits how much meth a cook can make.

Grellner says police need to crack down hard on the homemade juice now, or 
they risk making the same mistake he says they made years ago.

"In 1996 and 1997 law enforcement in Missouri got caught with our pants 
down," Grellner said. "What we're trying to do now is stay ahead of the curve."

Paul Hampel of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom