DA UPS ANTE ON METH PRODUCERS UNDER ANTI-TERRORISM LAW

Members of the 1st Judicial District Drug Task Force have broken up nearly
30 methamphetamine laboratories since the beginning of this year, including
10 in the month of May alone, according to DTF Director Kenneth Phillips.
Across the mountain in Boone, N.C., Watauga County law enforcement
officials have dismantled 24 meth labs since January. Watauga County
District Attorney Jerry Wilson is not very happy with that number,
especially since meth labs are not one of the sights tourists flock to see
in the High Country. In an effort to send a message to the manufacturers of
methamphetamine, Wilson has begun charging meth lab operators under North
Carolina's Article 36B, Section 14-288.21, the state anti-terrorism law
which was passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The statute governs
nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons of mass destruction, including
"any weapon, device or method that is designed or has the capability to
cause death or serious injury through the release, dissemination, or impact
of radiation or radioactivity, a disease organism, or toxic or poisonous
chemicals or their immediate precursors." Wilson believes the toxic nature
of the chemicals used to manufacture meth, and the toxic gases created as a
byproduct of the cooking process, make the North Carolina statute
applicable to the crime. District Attorney General Joe Crumley and DTF
Director Phillips are watching the North Carolina cases closely to see
whether such a law might have merit in Tennessee. Persons found guilty of
violating the North Carolina anti-terrorism law are guilty of a Class B1
felony, which carries a minimum 12-year sentence up to life in prison,
depending on prior criminal history. Most of the meth manufacturing cases
still are making their way through the court system in both states,
therefore, it is too early to tell what kind of punishment the perpetrators
will receive if found guilty.

Or whether North Carolina's anti-terrorism meth cases will hold up in court
before a judge and jury. But with the increasing number of meth labs being
found, Wilson said, "It became obvious that our law, as it existed, was
insufficient to deal with the problem.

It's a brand new problem for North Carolina. We were arresting people,
bringing them in, and they were bonding out and going right back to the
same thing.

We ended up arresting people two and three times before they even went to
trial on these charges." North Carolina's statutes before the
anti-terrorism law took effect "were not something that obviously concerned
these folks," he said. "So what we did was up the ante." Methamphetamine is
different from other drugs, according to Wilson, in that once it's
manufactured, "you have the problem that is inherent with any drug -- it
affects society, it affects the user. But at the same time, methamphetamine
is different in that the process of manufacturing it also produces large
amounts of extremely dangerous chemicals which are left behind long after
the manufacture is finished. "And it is that part of the crime that we are
going after with the chemical weapons statute," Wilson said. There are
three chemicals common to all meth labs, he said. "The three that we're
going after are phosphine gas, iodine crystals, and hydrochloric gas."
Wilson said that in the red phosphorus method of producing meth, the
phosphorous strike plates on matchbook covers are torn off and soaked in an
alcohol solution. "By doing that, the alcohol, in effect, breaks down the
glue that holds the phosphorus. In these places you'll find hundreds and
thousands of matchbooks. "It takes a long time to do it. If you just let it
sit there, it makes phosphine gas -- but not a lot. But what they do to
speed it up is heat it. And when you heat it, that's when the phosphine gas
pours out." Crews who specialize in cleanup of hazardous wastes must be
called out to clean up meth labs. In North Carolina, "You're talking, at
the very minimum, $1,500 to clean it up; and it normally runs $5,000 to
$10,000," Wilson said. In Tennessee, Phillips said the cost is usually
between $5,000 and $8,000. "One pound of meth produces five to six pounds
of these toxic chemicals," Wilson said. "What they're doing while they're
cooking is these folks take precautions to protect themselves. But then
after they're through with it, they throw it out in the yard, flush it down
the commode, pour it down the sink, throw it in the rivers. "We found one
that had been thrown in the green box behind the cancer center here at the
hospital.

I don't know if the air induction system could pull that in or not, but I
don't want to take a chance, especially in a place like that," he said.
"We've got meth labs everywhere. We've got them in houses, we've got a few
trailers, motel rooms, back seats of cars. You name it, we've had a meth
lab there. "I don't know what kind of ecological damage it's going to have,
but certainly it can't be good. And certainly it's being left in places
that innocent people can be exposed to it. In a motel room, you move in
behind them to take the kids to Tweetsie and suddenly you're breathing
phosphine gas and don't even know it," Wilson said. According to Phillips,
1st DTF law enforcement officers have found meth labs in cars, but, so far,
none in motel rooms. An incident in Watauga County this past spring
illustrates some of the dangers associated with the labs, according to
Wilson. Six firefighters were injured after they responded to a fire call
at what turned out to be a meth lab inside a house. "The phosphine gas fell
to the floor, and when they went in looking for hot spots, one fireman was
severely, severely injured.

He's a young man that's now lost 85 percent of his lung capacity," Wilson
said. His office is working in cooperation with the Department of Social
Services to take children out of homes where meth labs are found. "We,
along with DSS, have set up a group trying to work with the children.

We've got at least eight in DSS custody who have been taken out of these
houses," Wilson said. Meth labs also are having an impact on housing in the
High Country. "Watauga County land prices are just astronomical. Affordable
housing here is a real problem.

As of two weeks ago, the health department has now set at least eight
houses that they cannot let people occupy because of the labs that were
located in them. They can't get anybody to certify them safe for
occupation," Wilson said. "Our county depends so much on tourism and on
bringing people in to see the area. That is not a welcome thing to have
this sort of activity going on in the county, not for anybody," he said.