Researchers at Iowa State are working to create an additive to anhydrous ammonia that could help stop methamphetamine production in Iowa.

Anhydrous ammonia is a key ingredient in the production of meth, an illegal drug that affects the central nervous system.

It is also a common chemical in Iowa to supply nitrogen fertilizer, stored on farms and agricultural cooperatives around the state.

George Kraus, university professor of chemistry, has been involved in the four-year project to find the right additive. He said a decrease in anhydrous ammonia thefts would mean fewer problems in farmers’ fields and result in less meth use.

“[The additive] will affect a lot of people who make it for their own use,” he said. “Most meth production in the state of Iowa is for personal use.”

Marvin Van Haaften, director of the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy, said the ingredients for meth normally create a sky-blue flash when combined. But when the ISU additive was inserted into the ammonia, a yellow-gray color resulted.

Van Haaften’s team chose three places where anhydrous ammonia tanks were locked up and put the ISU additive into the fertilizer.

They left them unlocked, hoping meth cooks would steal the ammonia.

“Narcotics investors said the meth cooks were telling others not to take from that tank because ‘They had done something to it,'” Van Haaften said. “The tank has gone five months with no one stealing from it.”

Van Haaften said tests have shown that the additive-enhanced ammonia reduced meth yields from those tanks to 10 percent or less.

Because of environmental and agricultural concerns, he said, more testing must occur before the additive is released for public use.

“We are slowly, carefully and methodically doing research proving we have a successful product,” Van Haaften said.

Van Haaften said the testing could be completed shortly after Jan. 1, 2005, and the additive could be on the market shortly thereafter.

Kathy Mathers, vice president of public affairs for The Fertilizer Institute, said an additive could have a major impact on “enhanced safety, to help stop the meth epidemic and promote environmental safety.”

She said there are questions that need to be answered before the additive can hit the market.

“Fertilizer is derived from the environment,” Mathers said. “We don’t want to add anything toxic to a non-toxic product.”

Van Haaften spent more than 30 years in law enforcement and farms north of Pella. When he was sheriff of Marion County, 21 head of cattle were killed when a meth cook left an ammonia tank open.

“One of my fears is that an idiotic meth cook will leave a tank open on the edge of Pleasantville, Iowa, and it will waft into town,” he said. “It could be the death of people instead of cattle. I desperately want to stop the anhydrous production of meth.”

According to the Iowa Department of Human Services, meth seized in Iowa in 2003 totaled 157,000 grams, more than double the amounts in previous years. Also in 2003, more than 1,155 meth labs were reported in Iowa, and 14.9 percent of Iowa adults treated for drug abuse cited meth as the source.

Van Haaften said only one gallon of anhydrous ammonia is needed to make meth, although there are other ways to make it.

Red phosphorus is a common method in other areas of the country, but it is not as pure as anhydrous meth. Red phosphorus meth is approximately 30 to 50 percent pure, while anhydrous meth is 70 to 80 percent pure, Van Haaften said.

“About 80 percent of meth in Iowa is coming from Mexico, California or Arizona,” he said. “But the purity is only 6 to 12 percent.”

Van Haaften said three homicides in Des Moines have been meth-related, and when the drug is no longer produced in Iowa, there will be less violence around the drug.

“It’s a safety thing,” Van Haaften said. “And it’s a form of meth that if we don’t have it, we can spend more time on the 80 percent coming into the state. Right now, law enforcement is dealing with little labs in apartments, hotel rooms, and garages.”