Pubdate: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 Source: Times, The (Munster IN) Copyright: 2006 The Munster Times Contact: http://www.nwitimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/832 Author: Patrick Guinane Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) AYRES: LET'S LOOK AT METH REGISTRY Indianapolis: Those With Convictions Linked To Drug Would Be Tracked Online INDIANAPOLIS -- A Northwest Indiana legislator wants officials to consider creating an Internet registry to track those convicted of dealing or manufacturing methamphetamine, an addictive stimulant that's become a scourge of many rural communities. All 50 states and the federal government employ similar online databases to monitor the movement of paroled sex offenders. State Rep. Ralph Ayres, R-Chesterton, on Monday announced the legislative study committee he chairs will explore whether Indiana should join Illinois and three other states that do the same for meth convicts. "The drug's obviously deadly, and it's cheap," Ayres said. One potentially explosive process of cooking meth combines common household items, including pseuodoephedrine cold tablets -- an ingredient that state lawmakers recently moved behind pharmacy counters -- with anhydrous ammonia, a highly combustible fertilizer. Police have found meth labs everywhere from farm fields to car trunks. "You're putting children at risk, you're putting neighborhoods at risk and you're putting society at risk," Ayres said. The clandestine manufacturing operations, thus far, have clustered in rural downstate counties, with fewer than a dozen meth lab seizures recorded in Lake and Porter counties since the late 1990s, when the drug began to attract Midwest attention. Police throughout Indiana seized 547 meth labs in the first seven months of this year, a roughly 20 percent drop from the record busts seen the two previous years. The study committee will meet for the first time next week, and its final recommendation could prompt legislation next year. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman