cannabisnews.com: Meth use Expected to Skyrocket in Indiana





Meth use Expected to Skyrocket in Indiana
Posted by FoM on January 03, 2000 at 18:37:12 PT
By The Associated Press 
Source: Evansville Courier & Press 
Montgomery County Sheriff Dennis Rice didn’t realize what he had on his hands when he first came across a clandestine methamphetamine lab. But within a year, county police had seized more than 20 labs. And authorities tracked down a man from Missouri, who they believe brought his recipe for producing meth to this west-central Indiana county. 
Then police found someone who learned how to make meth from the man from Missouri. And someone that person had taught. And someone that person had told. “I said right now it’s just Montgomery County’s problem, but it’s going to be a state problem in a short period of time,” Rice said. He is more right than he ever feared. After studying the drug’s popularity in states such as Missouri, state police and drug experts are predicting an explosion of methamphetamine labs in Indiana over the next year, pushing what’s been a growing problem into what they fear will be a full-scale epidemic. The number of labs processed by the Indiana State Police forensics laboratory has doubled every year since 1994, except 1999, when they more than tripled to 127 labs. “The drug is so highly addictive, and it’s becoming such a popular drug,” Rice said. “Everything people need to make it is right here at home.” First synthesized by a Japanese scientist in 1919, methamphetamine was used during the 1930s in various forms to treat schizophrenia, narcolepsy, Parkinson’s disease and depression. During World War II, Japanese and German military troops were given the drug to keep them alert, and in the 1950s some U.S. doctors prescribed forms of the drug to increase energy levels in patients. During the 1960s, nonmedical use of the drug began to increase in the United States, and outlaw motorcycle gangs became a primary producer of meth, also known as crank, ice and glass. Over the last decade, the drug has moved steadily eastward through Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, where state police seized their first clandestine methamphetamine lab in 1992. After small increases through 1995, Missouri and federal authorities seized 250 labs in 1996 and more than 900 last year. They expect to exceed the 1998 level this year. Indiana authorities are forecasting the same pattern here. In 1994, state police seized just three labs, and that number increased slightly from 1995 to 1998, before taking off in 1999. “There’s no reason for it to slack off,” said Eric Lawrence, director of the forensic analysis division of the Indiana State Police crime lab. “What’s the downside of it if you’re someone who’s into abusing drugs? It’s going to continue to increase until you can control some of the chemicals. And how are you going to do that because they’re over the counter stuff?” What makes meth so difficult to stop is that almost every ingredient can be bought over the counter and is found in common goods like cold medicines and batteries. “It’s not cocaine that we’re trying to stop at the border from South America. This is stuff that’s made at home with American-made products bought at your local hardware store,” said Mike Boeger, an investigator with the Missouri Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. In Indiana, meth producers overwhelmingly favor the “Nazi method” for producing the drug. The relatively simple process involves almost all over-the-counter ingredients available in any drug store, a jar, a two-liter soda bottle, a tube and a coffee filter. Producers extract ephedrine from cold medication, add sulfuric acid from drain cleaners, lithium from batteries, anhydrous ammonia — which producers can be very efficient in producing the drug. “This Nazi method is pretty idiot-proof,” Lawrence said. “They throw this stuff together, and they’re going to get some product. “You can make a quarter of a pound in five hours. At $100 a gram, that’s pretty good money.” The Indiana Legislature made its first move to address methamphetamine during the 1999 session, when it approved a bill making it a D felony for anyone to possess two or more meth ingredients with the intent to produce the drug. Despite the 47-0 vote for the bill, Sen. Charles “Bud” Meeks, one of the sponsors, said some legislators and state agencies have been slow to realize the potential of meth because it’s still concentrated mostly in rural areas and Southern Indiana. “They’re just not seeing the danger that this thing is on the horizon. It’s the drug of the 21st century,” said Meeks, R-Leo, a former Allen County Sheriff. “We cannot be passive on this thing. We have to be proactive and get stated on it.” In Missouri, authorities are battling the drug with a massive education campaign and stiffer penalties for meth users and producers. Store chains, including Wal-Mart, have agreed to limit their sale of certain meth ingredients like cold medicine and tip off police when customers continually buy large amounts of those products. Boeger said the Missouri Legislature passed an omnibus meth bill in 1998 that stiffened several offenses associated with meth from misdemeanors to felonies, increased sentences, made manufacturing the drug a more serious crime and increased funding to train police in handling and investigating meth cases. “If the state of Indiana doesn’t start controlling chemicals like you do drugs, this thing of going home and making their own drugs is going to hit you next. Meth is just one of the drugs they’re making at home now,” Boeger said. So far, the meth labs seized by police in Indiana are confined to an area south of Interstate 70 and west of I-65 in Southwestern Indiana, particularly along a corridor from Evansville to Bloomington, Lawrence said. But state police have found their first labs in Angola and Elkhart, Lawrence said. In Montgomery County, Rice said he hasn’t seen any signs of the drug dropping off. “I don’t perceive this going away,” Rice said. “The drug’s become too popular. I think it’s here to stay, so what started out being a rather new thing to us is becoming routine.” Evansville Courier & Press Sunday, January 02, 2000 Related Articles:Amendment To 'Meth Bill' Would Censor Information - 8/13/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2476.shtmlReefer Madness Hits Congress - 8/08/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2395.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by SirrUpBoy on April 17, 2001 at 21:45:07 PT
how to make syrup!!!!
Hey now, yu'll keep it like, quiet, you know what I mean? 'Cuz once dis hear rec-up-pee get out, and people be tryin da syrup, you know what I'm sayin'? They be tryin this here syrup all the time, u know what I mean?http://www.allsands.com/Food/HowTo/homemademaples_dj_gn.htmC R A ZZZ Y!
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Comment #6 posted by Brian on April 17, 2001 at 20:53:28 PT:
recipe
How do you make syrup? I'm just trying to see what it taste like and to see what it will do.
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Comment #5 posted by alex on January 27, 2001 at 17:47:58 PT:
recipe for syrup
Hey listen I'm sure youve heard of that song by three six mafia "sippin on some syrup". What I need to know is how to make it, I'm pretty sure its like Nyquil and sprite or something. If you know how to make it or know where I can find out how to make it let me know. Thanks
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Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on January 04, 2000 at 06:30:39 PT
Know Your Customer, Part 2
This is just one more turn of the screw. Last year there was a bill to make banks and other financial institutions keep records on large deposits of cash into accounts and send that infor to the Feds, ostensibly to monitor drug trafficking proceeds. It was called 'Know Your Customer', and when it was found out by the Internet community, they burned up the phone lines to tell these nosy bureaucrats and Congress people and Senators to back off. They got the idea, and did. But the DrugWarriors are still pushing for this. And here is the latest version.Years ago, I suffered terribly from sinus conditions, causing me to buy boxes and boxes of antihistamines and cold medicines. That would now be sufficient grounds for the pharmacy to alert the cops, and have them 'visit' my home a la Mario Paz-style under the pretense of cooking meth. And as they said at MP training school where I took Army Basic, it'd be 'Oops upside the head!' time. We don't need any more of this short-sighted doltish behavior from any elected official blissfully ignorant of the unintended consequences of his or her actions. Let these people know that you don't want the cops busting down your door and shooting you because you bought several bottles of Nyquil. Otherwise, we'll soon be reduced to asking 'pretty-please' to take an aspirin.
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Comment #3 posted by Chris Campbell on January 03, 2000 at 23:25:30 PT:
Thanks FoM...
The more I hear about this so called methamphetamie anti-proliferation act the less I like it. I was only aware of the limitations on free speach aspect of it, I wasn't aware of the other implications. This seems to break the innocent until proven guilty norm in our society. Lots of days I /intend/ to clean my house but that doesn't necessarialy mean it's going to get done.. =)Isn't intending to mix these chemicals together to produce another substance more of a.. thoughtcrime.. until you actually do it? Unless someone is up to their nostrils in crystal meth I hope to god they don't get charged. This law sounds unenforceable at best. I'm not as familiar with the american constitution as many of you from south of the border are, but this entire bill seems to go against everything it stands for.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on January 03, 2000 at 20:34:03 PT
Here is what I found!
Bill Summary & Status for the 106th CongressS.1428 Sponsor: Sen Hatch, Orrin G. (introduced 7/22/1999) Latest Major Action: 7/28/1999 Senate committee/subcommittee actions Title: A bill to amend the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act relating to the manufacture, traffick, import, and export of amphetamine and methamphetamine, and for other purposes. Here's a link with a lot of imformation.http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:s.01428:
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Comment #1 posted by Chris Campbell on January 03, 2000 at 19:27:17 PT:
This one must have sailed past me.
The Indiana Legislature made its first move to address methamphetamine during the 1999 session, when it approved a bill making it a D felony for anyone to possess two or more meth ingredients with the intent to produce the drug.^- Can anyone verify this? This is some scary stuff here, speaking for myself I have:A lithium ion battery in my laptopPseudoephedrine (excellent decongestant / caffeine alternative)DrainoSo, that's three/four. Who decides on the intent to manufacture; the police? And this allegedly passed 47-0. I think I just lost at least one good nights sleep.
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