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Meth to the madness

By Jeff Terrill

Fort Wayne Reader

2013-10-07

You’ve probably heard by now that the manufacture, use and abuse of methamphetamine is at epidemic levels in Indiana. The most potent and addictive type of meth is also one of the easiest to make. As long as pseudoephedrine and ephedrine based cold and allergy products can be purchased without a prescription, the problem will only get bigger.

Meet Jim. Jim is a great kid who is always up for something new. Jim isn’t a real person. Next month, he will turn twenty-one. Jim gets great grades in college and is an intern at a local agency. Jim lives with his parents and is saving money to get his own apartment next year. Jim has never been in trouble with the law.

Todd, one of Jim’s friends, told Jim about a huge party some rich guy was throwing. Todd heard the guy lived out in the country and had hired a band. Jim was interested. Todd offered to drive.

Todd told Jim that he also heard that the guy had numerous big screen televisions and would be streaming ultimate fights throughout the night. Oh, and free food and drinks would be provided. Jim loved to watch those fights and he loved the thought of free food.

Todd told Jim that admission into the party was free as long as Jim brought a package of Sudafed®. Jim never messed around with pills or drugs, but assumed some of the people at the party would be taking the pills. He had an unopened package in his bathroom at home. On the way to the party, Todd stopped at a drug store and bought the cheapest package of allergy medicine made with pseudoephedrine.

Todd and Jim each handed their cold and allergy packs to a guy who was standing in the driveway directing traffic when they arrived. The guy told them the party was around back. Jim saw what looked like hundreds of people. The band was playing and the big screens were showing the fights. Everyone looked like they were having fun.

While waiting in line for food, Jim met a girl who told him that the guy who was hosting the party made meth. She went on to explain that the Sudafed® and other cold and allergy packs containing pseudoephedrine were an essential ingredient for the guy’s meth production. She told Jim it was easy to make really potent meth and that everything needed was sold at Wal-Mart. She told him that meth could be made in minutes with only a few ingredients and an empty two-liter soda bottle.

Jim is what law enforcement refers to as a “smurf.” Jim provided the most important ingredient—pseudoephedrine — for some guy’s methamphetamine production operation.

Consumers should be required to get a prescription for pseudoephedrine from their doctors before being able to purchase it. The harder it is to buy, the more challenging it will be to make meth.

The solution is an easy one.

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Jeff Terrill is a partner/shareholder with the law firm of Arnold Terrill Anzini, P.C. Mr. Terrill represents clients accused of crimes throughout northeast Indiana. You can contact Mr. Terrill with any questions or comments at his office at 260.420.7777 or via email at jterrill@fortwaynedefense.com. Learn more about his firm at www.fortwaynedefense.com. This article expressed opinions and observations of the author, is not intended as legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship between the author and the reader. Please consult a qualified attorney with any legal questions or issues you might have. Thank you.