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As police have improved techniques for fighting the war on illegal drug labs, their enemies, methamphetamine cooks, have also adapted.
And the new techniques for cooking the central nervous system stimulant have dragged the war on meth from the rural countryside to city streets.
So far this year, Fort Wayne police have found eight meth labs in the city, including the latest July 17 near Turnstone Center for Children and Adults with Disabilities.
More meth labs in urban areas mean city police have to take notice of a trend all-too familiar to their rural counterparts. In Fort Wayne, that means training a team of officers to respond to the labs.
The addictive drug, which can be smoked, injected or inhaled, makes its users stay awake for days and causes physical damage to the liver, skin and teeth. But, it can also make users paranoid and dangerous to themselves and those around them.
While drugs such as marijuana and cocaine are derived from plants, meth is manufactured using such ingredients as pseudoephedrine – found in common cold medicines – drain cleaner, engine starter and brake cleaner.
For years, because of the noxious odors and the need for anhydrous ammonia, a farm fertilizer, meth labs have typically been found in rural areas. But police say the latest method for cooking the drug doesn’t require the fertilizer, which was often stolen from large tanks on farms and at farm supply stores.
As a result, cooks have been able to manufacture the drug just about anywhere, including cars, homes and apartments in Fort Wayne. While the new method has less odor, the drug labs still pose dangers, including explosions and fires, because of the chemicals and process involved.
Capt. Jim Feasel, head of Fort Wayne’s Vice and Narcotics Division, said he noticed an increase in urban labs this year and decided there was enough of a problem to step up efforts.
Feasel put together a team of four detectives to be trained in investigating the clandestine labs by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Two of the detectives will be trained how to identify the chemicals used and how to properly handle them. The other two will learn the best ways to investigate, handle and dispose of the labs.
The extra training is necessary because labs are filled with toxins and the remains are considered hazardous material, Feasel said.
The training is paid by a federal grant, but the cost for equipment the team needs will be significant, said Detective Brian Martin, who is heading the team. Martin said he hopes the department will eventually be able to obtain grants to pay for equipment to properly dispose of the labs and the hazardous materials they leave behind.
The increase of labs found in the city didn’t come as a surprise to those who have, for years, been charged with eradicating the drug in Indiana’s rural areas. Statewide, the number of clandestine labs found in cities has been increasing, said Sgt. Niki Crawford, of the Indiana State Police Methamphetamine Suppression Section.
Crawford attributed the increase in urban labs to both a reduction in methamphetamine coming into the U.S. from Mexico and a quicker, less-odorous method of cooking the drug.
The decrease in supply, coupled with knowledge that police were keeping an eye on large anhydrous ammonia supplies, led to the new method of cooking – called the one-pot or one-bottle method, according to police.
The one-pot meth lab produces less of the drug, but it also doesn’t require the dangerous and smelly farm fertilizer, police said. It lends itself to urban settings, Crawford said.
“They found a way that they can do it in the city without the odors and without drawing attention to themselves,” she said.
The labs discovered in Fort Wayne haven’t been found in vacated homes on the outskirts of town. Two of them, including the one found July 17, have been within 1,000 feet of schools.
Police discovered the recent lab at a north-side mobile home park at 3414 N. Clinton St.
Police said they watched as Larry R. Short, 31, of Fort Wayne, and Kassondra J. Holt, 26, of Woodburn, nervously glanced out of the mobile home windows and later watched Short carry a garbage bag to a trash bin at the front of the park. Another trash bin was within a few yards of his own home.
When officers opened the garbage bag, they found two of the one-pot labs inside. A police officer at the scene suggested Short did not want the labs to explode so close to his own home.
In April, Patrick Main, 47, was arrested after police said they found an active meth lab in his West Paulding Road home, within 1,000 feet of Bishop Luers High School. His case is pending in Allen County courts.
Another trend police have noted is the willingness of more experienced cooks to travel and teach others how to make the drug, police said. In many instances the cooks will teach the techniques in exchange for a portion of the product, Martin said.
In May, 38-year-old Christopher Wetzel, of LaGrange, was arrested by Fort Wayne police after they say he agreed to come to Fort Wayne and make the drug for a confidential informant, police said.
Wetzel, police said, was more than willing to travel to the city to educate others in his chosen trade.
“He felt safer in Fort Wayne than up in LaGrange County,” said an officer with the Indiana Multi-Agency Group Enforcement Drug Task Force who assisted Fort Wayne police in the case. “I’m not sure why he wanted to go to Fort Wayne, if he thought it was less likely he’d be detected.”
At the time of his Fort Wayne arrest, Wetzel was out on bond from LaGrange County where he was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine. According to court documents, Wetzel’s operation in LaGrange resulted in a house fire.
When he was arrested, Wetzel told officers he was only there to coach the confidential informant on how to make the drug. But police said he had cooked in the city at least four times before he was arrested.
Wetzel committed suicide June 4 in Sturgis, Mich., police there said.
Tips from the public and cooperation with other law enforcement agencies have already helped Fort Wayne police shut down eight labs, but officers believe the meth problem will be around for a while.
“It will probably increase before it decreases,” Smith said.
aslutsky@jg.net
