‘Precursor’ law targets meth labs Officials prosecuting first case in County

In the emerging fight against a stimulant drug that has swept through much of the country, state and local officials in Maine are using a new law to put would-be manufacturers behind bars before they can cook up a single batch of methamphetamine.

Last November, the Legislature enacted into law “An Act to Prevent the Manufacturing of Methamphetamine in Maine,” and this spring, the Aroostook County District Attorney’s office is prosecuting what is believed to be the first case involving the law.

It stems from a bizarre arrest that involved a man who allegedly disguised his voice as a woman’s and made a panicked 911 call from the Allagash home of Collen M. Nadeau. When police arrived, they found no woman in danger, but did discover marijuana plants, cocaine, 29 grams of pseudoephedrine and equipment for making methamphetamine.

Nadeau, 53, has been indicted on charges of attempted aggravated trafficking in methamphetamine, a Class B crime, and unlawful possession of the scheduled drug pseudoephedrine, a Class E crime.

The new “precursor law,” which the Attorney General’s office helped to create, makes it a crime to possess more than 9 grams of methamphetamine precursor drugs such as ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and phenylpropanolamine, which are found in common over-the-counter cold medicines. It would take 300 30-milligram pills to equal 9 grams.

Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, which are “just a molecule away” from methamphetamine, are frequently used in the manufacture of the drug, which is also called crank, speed, crystal and ice. Methamphetamine can be swallowed, injected, snorted and inhaled. With a low price and a high that can last all day, it’s a cheap alternative to cocaine, heroin and marijuana.

Methamphetamine gets to Maine in two ways: It is smuggled in from places like Mexico and California, which are believed to have major manufacturing operations, or it is “cooked” locally in clandestine meth labs. Such labs are small, can be located just about anywhere, and cause major chemical dangers and environmental hazards for those who use the labs, their neighbors and law enforcement officials.

Chuck Dow, spokesman for the Maine Attorney General’s office, said Wednesday that the new law attempts to deal with meth labs in the state. Through the Maine Meth Watch Program, the law requires retailers to move cold tablets containing the chemicals behind the pharmacy counter, restricts the amount of medicine per package, limits the number of packages that can be sold per transaction and requires that they be sold by a pharmacist or pharmacy technician.

“Where meth takes hold, it is a terrible scourge,” Dow said. “What our colleagues in other states have said is that if methamphetamine takes hold in your state, you’ll long for the day that you dealt with narcotics; you’ll long for the day that your addicts were addicted to OxyContin.”

According to the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, arrests where methamphetamine was the primary drug involved were at 21 in 1998, but then slowly decreased to just 3 by 2002. But the numbers have shot back up and reached 16 last year.

“We are living in one of the last islands that has been spared this scourge,” Dow said. “Our reason for pushing so hard for this new law is based on what we knew about the changing patterns of drug use in Maine. … This was our last chance to get a good, strong law on the books to fight this before it really took hold.”

In the last year, MDEA has seized seven meth labs from Caribou to Lewiston. In total, the state has seized 16 since 1998.

“It clearly appears to be a growing threat,” MDEA Director Roy McKinney said Wednesday.

McKinney said that through his membership with the National Alliance of State Drug Enforcement Agencies, he’s been keeping an eye on the methamphetamine situation across the country.

“In discussions, it [the problem] always seems to be doubling. It simmers under the surface, but once it takes a foothold, the meth lab situation seems to grow exponentially,” he said.

McKinney said the precursor legislation has helped stem the problem in other states and is an important strategy in responding to the meth threat in Maine.

Darrell Crandall, MDEA task force supervisor in Houlton, agreed.

“It provides us with yet another tool we can use,” Crandall said. “We are certainly hoping that it will reduce the number of individuals attempting to make methamphetamine. But we also hope it would have some deterrent value as more information about it becomes available.”

As Aroostook County District Attorney Neale Adams prepares his office for Nadeau’s case, he said he believed the law is a big help, but officials need to enlist the community to effectively deal with the problem.

“There’s no way the criminal justice system alone can touch this problem. It’s just too big,” Adams said Wednesday. “In a lot of states that have tried it, [precursor laws] have a significant impact on the number of meth labs they’ve found. But the effect is that you get a lot more meth transported in from Mexico. In many respects, we’re squeezing a balloon. What you have to do is reduce the air in the balloon, and that is really going to require getting the community involved.”