EXTREME MEASURES: THE WAR ON METHAMPHETAMINES

Whitewater, Mo. -- Methamphetamine makers are willing to risk their lives to steal a substance that sells legally for 58 cents a gallon.

But those who store anhydrous ammonia, a meth ingredient more commonly used by farmers as fertilizer, aren't as brave in guarding it.

"We know that they're taking it, but there's not much we can do about it," said Jerry Day, manager of the co-op service center in Jackson, Mo.

In the battle to control the only meth ingredient not sold over the counter, farmers and operators of agricultural co-ops admit defeat.

When then Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft spoke with members of the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force on a visit to Cape Girardeau in 1999, narcotics officers testified they were frustrated over anhydrous ammonia thefts. Operators of co-ops, organizations that serve member farmers, took few if any security precautions, even after repeated thefts.

Little has changed because costs for security would increase the price of doing business, said David Coomer, manager for the co-op in Whitewater, Mo.

Anhydrous ammonia is bought for roughly $430 a ton, which is up from about $180 a ton three years ago. The price increase resulted from the rising cost of natural gas, an ingredient in the fertilizer, Coomer said.

Eddie Barnhill of Charleston, Mo., is unwilling to add the cost of security on to farmers' fertilizer.

"I've thought about razor wire, I've thought about surrounding the tanks with lights," said Barnhill, assistant general manager for Delta Growers Association. "But then I'd have to raise the costs of everything all around."

Continuing problems

Even managers who have spent money continue to have problems.

After spending more than $10,000 on security measures for his co-op in Pemiscot County, Robbie Winston said he still hasn't found a way to stop thefts.

"We've put up chain-link fencing, and we've taken the hoses off of tanks, but they still steal it," said Winston, general manager of the Peach Orchard Gin farm service center.

Operators of co-ops in the region explain that the circumstances surrounding their businesses allow them to do little other than remain vigilant for thieves during the daytime and ask law enforcement officers to make spot checks at night.

The large tanks that hold anhydrous ammonia in bulk amounts of 30,000 gallons make easy targets. Thieves come at night and hide among the tanks, where they only need to spend a few minutes collecting the gas into another container.

Many dangers exist from working with anhydrous ammonia, since it is kept at extremely cold temperatures and under high pressure, Barnhill said. Poor handling can result in burns, eye damage and even death.

"Anhydrous is the leading cause of blindness in Iowa," he said. "If it gets in someone's eye, it draws it up like a raisin."

Safety concerns lead some farmers to use blended fertilizers, which cost about $10 more an acre, Barnhill said.

Fear of thieves seeking anhydrous for methamphetamine have made farmers more leery of keeping the co-ops' 1,000 gallon field tanks on the property overnight, Coomer said.

"We spend a lot more evenings gathering up our tanks," he said. "We'll also try to hide them along the tree lines by the fields."

Thefts of anhydrous ammonia are hard to detect without a witness -- filling a 20-pound propane bottle from a 4,000-pound tank won't even move the gauge.

But when thieves don't turn off hoses, the smell is an obvious clue.

"It'll be 3 or 4 in the morning and some neighbor will smell anhydrous and we'll all come down here," Barnhill said.

Many co-op managers said they've tried using surveillance cameras without effect.

Jackson police set up cameras about two years ago and experimented with night recordings. But it didn't work, Day said.

"They'd just find a darker area where tanks were," he said.

How it's used

Anhydrous is used in the early stage of preparing methamphetamine. It serves as a cooling agent as meth cooks "stir the stick," said Aaron Harrison, a trooper with the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Alternatives to anhydrous ammonia exist for methamphetamine, such as freon, liquid nitrogen or a certain kind of welding gas. But they are seldom used because they are more expensive, Harrison said.

The motive to steal is increased by the illegal value of the fertilizer.

"A few people working together can make between $20,000 and $30,000 in one night stealing anhydrous ammonia, and it only takes about 30 minutes to actually procure it," Harrison said.

Meth cooks could buy anhydrous ammonia legally, but it would raise too much suspicion.

"If someone ordered 8,000 gallons, they're going to wonder," Harrison said. "You're not a farmer, and they don't know you."

Harrison will drive by or park at co-ops while working night shifts, but he said the effectiveness of this is limited because he has other duties.

The danger is great, too. In November 1999, a anhydrous thief tried to run over Harrison with a van.

Most co-op operators believe the best solution would be stricter punishment beyond the maximum five-year sentence for stealing the fertilizer, since a small number of thieves actually go to prison.

"It has to get pretty discouraging on the law enforcement side," Day said. "The crooks get back out on the street quicker than we return to the office."