Seventeen counties in Iowa, in which more than 300 meth labs were found last year, are now being aided by the South Central Iowa Methamphetamine Clandestine Task Force offices.

Of 764 meth labs found in Iowa last year, about half were located in 17 counties in south-central Iowa, which includes Story County, said Sen. Tom Harkin.

The task force, launched publicly Feb. 23, is based in Osceola and is specifically aimed at the 17 counties.

“We’re up to 80, 90 – maybe more – meth labs in the area,” said John Tinker, DPS program coordinator. “Methamphetamine labs are a major problem.”

Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald said the new task force will help alleviate pressure on the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, whose lab teams “are being run ragged.”

The cross-jurisdictional nature of the task force is one of its benefits, Fitzgerald said, since meth shipments frequently cross state boundaries. He said Iowa receives meth from southeastern-bordering states and Iowa itself exports meth.

Tinker said another advantage of using a task force to combat meth labs is that it allows specially trained law enforcement officials to clean up the labs.

“It takes a certain expertise to deal with the various chemicals,” Tinker said. “You tie up a lot of manpower doing those things.”

Tinker said cleanup costs of meth labs average between $1,000 and $3,000.

The process is complicated, Tinker said.

After identifying which chemicals are present, officers have to decide how to safely remove them.

If the lab is in a hotel room or another populated area, people may have to be evacuated.

A Des Moines-based outfit removes the chemicals, which are then taken to Oklahoma and destroyed.

Tinker said resources for would-be meth manufacturers are readily available.

Recipes for making meth can be found on the Internet, he said. Also, the ingredients are not hard to find. Three of the four main manufacturing ingredients – cold medicine tablets, lithium batteries and starting fluid containing ether – can all be found in stores.

Jim Scheetz, Story County drug prosecutor, said Ames is seeing an increase in shoplifting of these items.

“The hard thing is acquiring the fourth necessary ingredient – anhydrous ammonia,” Scheetz said.

Fitzgerald said Iowa meth manufacturers frequently steal anhydrous ammonia. Although the storage tanks have locks, meth manufacturers have found ways to break in.

“People can literally take a few minutes to steal the anhydrous ammonia, drive down a gravel road, put it in a ditch to cool, come back an hour later and it’s done,” he said. “Basically . a meth lab . is a gas container with a couple of hoses coming out.”

Fitzgerald said ingesting this combination of chemicals is extremely dangerous – one single meth use will physically alter the human brain.

“Methamphetamine is by far the most addictive and controlling drug [that] law enforcement has dealt with to date,” he said. “You try it once or twice, you’re putting yourself at risk.”

The drug “knows no ethnic or socio-economic boundaries,” Fitzgerald said, and meth is very different from other illegal drugs.

Because drug dealers don’t get rich making meth, “it’s not like crack,” Fitzgerald said.

He also said meth makers almost always manufacture meth for personal use, although sometimes they will sell enough to their friends so they can buy more precursors.

Fitzgerald said officers typically respond to either a tip from an informant or from patrol officers who have found meth on people they have arrested.

Funding for the task force comes from the Health Appropriations Bill.

Harkin, chairman of the committee involved with the bill, appropriated $2 million to help create the task force. Although the task force receives federal funding, it is just one part of a broad national initiative, said Bill Burton, spokesperson for Harkin.

The local programs retain control, however, Burton said.

Fitzgerald said he is concerned about action on a local level. The sheriff is urging anyone who notices suspicious activity around anhydrous ammonia sources to call local law enforcement, since reports can help establish patterns.

“We always ask the public to keep their eyes and ears open,” Fitzgerald said.