Columbus Dispatch, OH
10-21-06
Researchers in Iowa find that adding calcium nitrate to farm fertilizer makes a
key meth ingredient unusable
Kelly Hassett
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
University researchers in Iowa have discovered a new ingredient that could make
it tougher for methamphetamine cooks to concoct their illegal brew.
Researchers at Iowa State University announced last week that adding
calcium nitrate to anhydrous ammonia neutralizes the reaction required to make
methamphetamine. The highly addictive drug is manufactured in clandestine labs
using the farm fertilizer, a common cold medicine and other household products.
Officials hope the discovery will not only curb meth production, but deter thieves
from stealing anhydrous ammonia from farmers and farm-supply dealers. And
agriculture and law-enforcement officials in Ohio and elsewhere are taking
notice.
"If you’re a meth cook, it makes your job a whole lot harder," said Dale Woolery,
associate director of the Iowa Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy.
Officials in Ohio, New York and several western states have already contacted
counterparts in Iowa to find out more about the research.
State law-enforcement officials say stopping meth production is one of their top
priorities, both because of the crime associated with its use and because of the
danger involved in its production. Meth-lab raids in Ohio increased since 2000
from 36 to more than 400 last year, and the state has spent nearly $2 million just
in the past two years to establish and run a law-enforcement unit to combat the
illegal drug.
Some in law enforcement wonder if the additive, while possibly deterring thefts of
anhydrous ammonia, would slow the production of the drug overall. And those in
the farming and fertilizer industries are concerned about the cost.
Anhydrous ammonia generally costs farmers about $45 per acre, said Jerry
Ward, president of OHIGRO, a retail farm-supply business in Waldo.
Calcium nitrate would tack on at least another $1 an acre to farmers’ fertilizer bill,
and many farmers work thousands of acres.
"That adds up," Ward said.
Farm suppliers and members of the Ohio AgriBusiness Association had been
waiting for the results of Iowa State’s research, said Brian Peach, secretarytreasurer.
They want more information about how the calcium nitrate would be marketed, at
what level in the distribution process the chemical would be added and whether it
really reduces anhydrous-ammonia thefts, Peach said.
"We’ve tried numerous methods, but nothing was really deterring them," he
added.
The anhydrous-ammonia tanks at Blanchard Valley Farmers Co-op in Findlay
have been broken into several times in the past few years, said risk coordinator
Joe Hochstettler.
The co-op added tank locks, surveillance cameras and chain-link fences before
the number of thefts dropped, he said.
Although Hochstettler said the calcium nitrate formula seems more promising
than GloTell, a chemical that makes ammonia glow pink and stains meth users’
hands, he wonders how the added cost would affect competition.
"Unless it became law, not everybody would do it," Hochstettler said. "We’d be
giving away $1 an acre to do the right thing."
State lawmakers already have moved to make it harder to produce meth.
A law restricting sales of pseudoephedrine took effect in May and is credited, at
least in part, for the drop in the number of meth labs and waste sites discovered,
from 444 in 2005 to 243 so far this year.
"The new law, it’s making it a lot harder for them," said Chuck Bell, special agent
for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
Bell predicted the calcium nitrate could also help, but acknowledged that meth
addicts are constantly adapting their methods in response to new police tactics.
"We have a lot of people making their own anhydrous ammonia right now," Bell
said. "If they want it bad enough, they’re going to find a way to do it."
Iowa is still fine-tuning its program, which is voluntary for agriculture suppliers
and retailers. Officials don’t think it is necessary to treat every anhydrousammonia tank in the state with calcium nitrate, however, Woolery said.
"It’s a very fluid, flexible type of process," he said. "We think that there’ll be
enough of it out there by spring that, for a meth cook, they might as well quit."
khassett@dispatch.com