Meth Conference Looks to New Laws

1. James Steward said:

P&S Consulting Company

“we connect the dots”

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EVALUATING INDIANA’S METHAMPHETAMINE PRECURSOR LAW: Seizing fewer clandestine labs while precursor law violators increase and go uncaptured.

P&S Consulting Company conducted a non-paid, independent, 12-month study spanning July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006. The study measured the number of Indiana state law violators produced by identification of electronic and/or signing paper ephedrine and pseudoephedrine sales logs. The Company evaluated the quantity of monthly precursor transactions from participating county stores. The study was conducted in three meth plagued counties in southwest Indiana: Daviess, Knox and Vigo Counties

INDIANA LAW / FEDERAL LAW

State of Indiana law went into effect July 1, 2005. The law states a person may not purchase more than 3-grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine product within a 7-day period. However, there is no 30-day / monthly cap. Penalty for precursor violation is a C-misdemeanor. As of April 8, 2006, the federal meth precursor law, “The Combat Meth Act” began enforcement. The federal law states a person may not purchase more than 9-grams within 30-days. The state of Indiana is currently not tracking buyers that sign ephedrine or pseudoephedrine purchase logs. As of January 2005, P&S Consulting Company (A Criminal Tracking Company) has contracted out with various Sheriff Departments in Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota to track mass ephedrine or pseudoephedrine buyers.

DAVIES COUNTY INDIANA RESULTS

Daviess County (pop. 30,466) has been in the top ten (10) of most clandestine methamphetamine labs

seized for two out of the four years, 2001 to 2004. Total labs seized in this time period, 103 labs. On any given month, between 10 – 40% of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine product sold gets into the hands of meth precursor violators. In one year, Daviess County tallied 328 people that could be charged with the state’s meth precursor law. The P&S Study found a moderate amount of people purchasing under the states 3-gram a week threshold but totaling between 10-11grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine product purchases per month. P&S estimated that between 35-45 people per month could be added to the Davies County violator total if the new federal “combat meth act” was to be enforced. The study investigated if violators of the precursor law are in-county residents or out-of-county residents. The study found that Daviess County has about a 50/50 split on violators claiming in-county residence and out-of-county residence. The researchers also investigated the number of warrants and arrests for precursor law violations. P&S found that Daviess County Sheriffs Department (DCSD) is just starting to issue warrants for precursor violators as of September 2006. Although no warrants or arrests for violations have been made, the precursor log information has allowed the DCSD to put surveillance on people which has lead them to numerous arrests of people for; possession, manufacturing and dealing meth.

KNOX COUNTY INDIANA RESULTS

Knox County (pop.38,366) has been one of the top six (6) counties in Indiana with the most clandestine methamphetamine labs seized from 2001 to 2004. Total labs seized in this time period, 293 labs. P&S Consulting found Daviess and Knox County had similar precursor law violation results. On any given month between 20 – 50% of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine product sold gets into the hands of meth precursor violators. The difference in percent may have to do with the number of stores involved in providing purchase data. Knox County had three (3) participating stores and Daviess County had nine (9). In one year, P&S found a total of 559 people in violation of the State’s meth precursor law. Again, a moderate amount of people are sneaking under the state’s 3-gram a week limit but tallying 10-11 grams per month. P&S estimated that between 35-45 people per month could be added to the Knox County violator total if the new federal “combat meth act” was to be enforced. The study found that Knox County has an in-county precursor violator problem; P&S discovered that between 65-75% of all precursor violators identify their residence as within Knox County. Much like the Daviess County Sheriffs Department, The Knox County Sheriffs Department (KCSD) since July, 2005, has issued no warrants or arrests on precursor law violators, however, P&S found that the KCSD has been extremely successful at using precursor log information. The log information has allow allowed the KCSD to “stop & knock” at suspect residence and arrest numerous people for; possession, manufacturing and dealing meth.

VIGO COUNTY INDIANA RESULTS

Vigo County (pop.102,592) has led the State of Indiana in most clandestine methamphetamine labs seized three out of four years, from 2001 to 2004. Total labs seized in this time period, 565 labs. P&S Consulting found that between, 30 – 50% of monthly ephedrine and pseudoephedrine products sold get into the hands of meth precursor violators. The study found that at the start of January, 2005, Vigo County had 74 stores that sold ephedrine products, which dropped to 45 stores by July, 2005 and as of September, 2005, there are only 27 stores. The researchers found that many stores simply just stopped selling ephedrine products to stop perpetuating the meth problem. P&S Consulting recorded 481meth precursor violators from January 2005 to December 2005 (1yr). Beginning December 2005 to May 2006 the number of precursor violators soared to 718, many of them new / first time violators. Currently, Vigo County is the only county in the State of Indiana that has been actively pursuing and aggressively issuing warrants for precursor violators. From December 2005 to May 2006 the Vigo County Drug Task Forced issued 100 arrest warrants for precursor violators.

CONCLUSION

In one year, (July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006) the three counties accounted for 2,085 state precursor law violators. P&S Consulting estimated that to arrest all 2,085 people, arrest counts would have to average almost 6-people a day. Additionally, researchers estimate that with the federal law now in effect, the three Sheriff Departments could each encounter another 300 to 400 arrest to their already high precursor law violator totals. P&S found that subtracting ephedrine and pseudoephedrine sales from convenience stores (2-count travel packs), and sales of products that are ephedrine or pseudoephedrine liquid based , syrup based and gel cap based, the monthly percent of product sold getting into the hands of meth precursor law violators is between 70 -85%. The researchers found Vigo County was the only county in the study that was aggressively issuing warrants based on the states precursor law. Moreover, Vigo County Drug Task Force had conducted numerous arrests with the information gained from the retail store precursor logs. Furthermore, researchers found a disturbing trend, throughout the year, the data indicated that first time meth precursor law violators are consistently out purchasing re-offender/re-violators purchases. This pattern may indicate present meth prevention strategies to stop new users are not working. The P&S data indicates that one-time violators rarely violate just once, on average they tend to violate up to 3 to 5 times throughout the year. P&S concluded that even with the ability to track store purchases of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine products, the manpower to enforce the state’s law leaves many Sheriff Departments overwhelmed. Lastly, P&S found that the reduction in seized meth labs in each of the studied counties has no effect on precursor product sales.

This was a segment of a paper presented at:

Annual Meeting, Midwest Criminal Justice Association

September 29, 2006

Chicago, Illinois