49abcnews.com, KS
10-17-06
New discovery makes methamphetamine manufacturing more difficult
Story by Craig Gold (Contact)
A fertilizer that farmers use often gets into the "wrong hands" and is misused to
manufacture methamphetamine.
Farmers have used locks to keep meth manufacturers from stealing the gas
fertilizer, but now they may have a new safeguard.
"There's no silver bullet on meth labs, one silver bullet that'll take care of the
problem," says Kyle Smith of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
One of the main problems, according to the Kansas Bureau of investigation, lies
with meth cooks. They steal anhydrous ammonia tanks from farmers to
manufacture the deadly drug.
"Using the anhydrous ammonia and other chemicals, it creates the chemical
reactor that knocks off the little oxygen atom off the molecule chain of
pseudophedrine and that turns it into methamphetamine."
But that chemical reaction is being counteracted by another chemical reaction
that Iowa State University researchers found accidently. That is, if you take
calcium nitrate and inject it into the anhydrous ammonia tanks, it renders the
fertilizer useless for meth production.
The only con is how costly the altered fertilizer could be. Something Dean Davis
from the Shawnee County Extensions Office thinks everyone should help to pay.
"I truly believe that everyone needs to pay the costs. It shouldn't be the farmer or
the rancher or the person using this product because meth is a serious problem
nationwide," says Dean Davis of the Shawnee County Extension Office.
Right now, the newly discovered calcium nitrate mixture is being used in Iowa on
a voluntary basis. Dean Davis wants to keep it that way because of the potential
high costs. "We must keep it voluntary. We don't need no government agency
telling people how to farm, what to farm, and when to do things," says Davis.
As for when it could make its way here to Kansas, that depends on if there's a
market for it. "If the distributors of fertilizer companies see value in this and start
adding it, they're not going to worry about state lines. They'll use it anywhere that
methamphetamine manufacturing is a problem," says Davis.
As far as just how costly the revamped anti-meth fertilizer would be, the
Shawnee County Extension Office says it could total up to an additional dollar
per acre. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says for now, the fertilizer "would"
be used on a voluntary basis. Otherwise, they'd work on ways to help farmers
absorb the cost