"I'm mad as hell:" Speakers call for stronger meth laws

He can recite the costs to taxpayers for cleaning up meth labs. He can describe the impact of this illegal drug on families and children, the dangers of meth trash tossed haphazardly along roadsides and how meth cooks cleverly work around restrictions to get what they need.

At Kendallville Mayor Suzanne Handshoe’s Town Hall meeting on the meth problem, Toles, who also is a Noble County Council member, expressed concern about the effect the meth problem could have on economic development in northeast Indiana. More meth labs have been found in northeast Indiana than any other area of the state.

Indiana ranked third in the nation in meth labs in 2012.

Speakers at Tuesday’s meeting said there is a way to reduce this insidious threat to a community’s well-being — if Indiana’s legislators had the courage to ignore naysayers and pharmaceutical company lobbyists and pass legislation making ephedrine and pseudoephedrine scheduled drugs.

“This would practically eliminate the meth problem” with local manufacturing of the drug, Toles said.

Ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, found in over-the-counter cold medicines, are key ingredients for making meth. Everything else in the process can be found in everyday products such as lithium in batteries and lye. Meth cannot be made without ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, however.

The amount of medicines with ephedrine and pseudophedrine a person can purchase is limited by law, but the meth culture has bypassed this restriction by creating a network of buyers who stop at a number of pharmacies for purchases. Kendallville Police detective Dwight Miller said at the meeting buyers spend as little as $25 to $30 along S.R. 3 entering Fort Wayne, stopping at CVS and Walgreens pharmacies, Walmart and Meijer buying cold medications for the pseudophedrine.

“It’s so easy. That’s why you see so many pill blister packs along the roadways,” he said.

Miller also pointed out meth cooks no longer exchange meth for cash. They want ephedrine and pseudoephedrine.

Noble County Prosecutor Steve Clouse has been aggressive when it comes to prosecuting people who deal meth. He said he agrees with Toles that there should be a state law requiring prescriptions for pharmaceutical products with ephedrine or pseudoephedrine.

“I think when most people understand the problem, they will support this,” Clouse said.

Toles explained the instability of meth ingredients and the high risk of explosions and fires when making meth. He warned those at the meeting never to touch the remnants of a meth lab — called meth trash — often discarded in public places by meth cooks.

“Call police,” he advised anyone finding meth trash.

Becky Calhoun of Drug Free Noble County said she was skeptical about stricter law for over-the-counter cold medicine with ephedrine and pseudoephedrine because of the inconvenience of obtaining prescriptions, until she realized the impact meth has on children. “It was like a light bulb went off,” she said.

Calhoun passed out small, gram-size sugar packets like those in restaurants. She told those in attendance to open the packet and place a small amount of the sugar on a finger tip.

“That’s about one-tenth of a gram. That’s enough meth to kill a child,” she said.

Meth eradication is long-term process, said Kendallville Police Chief Rob Wiley.

“There is a need to educate the public, especially young kids, to prevent them from getting into drugs,” Wiley said.

Clouse, Miller, Wiley, Handshoe and Kendallville Police detective Lance Waters encouraged those present to contact their state lawmakers and express their support for legislation introduced in the House by Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn (House Bill 1248) and supported by Rep. David Ober, R-Albion, and in the Senate by Sen. Sue Glick, R-LaGrange (Senate Bill 243).