Washington, D.C.-The Fertilizer Industry Methamphetamine Task Force met Nov. 1 to review all anti-meth best management practices, including the recent introduction of calcium nitrate as a nurse tank additive. The meeting came on the heels of Iowa’s announcement late last month of the availability of calcium nitrate as a meth inhibitor. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration research found that meth cooks who use untreated anhydrous ammonia typically get a 42 percent yield of pseudoephedrine for conversion to meth. However, that yield drops to two percent or less when the calcium nitrate inhibitor is added, the task force said. Retailers who choose to use calcium nitrate will receive the formula for injecting calcium nitrate into anhydrous ammonia. The task force called the addition of calcium nitrate “the latest voluntary industry effort to join the fight against the theft of anhydrous ammonia for the illegal production of methamphetamine.” Other anti-meth measures include tank lock programs, the GloTell fluorescent pink additive that was announced in August 2004, and strong regulatory controls on pseudoephedrine at both the state and national levels. A statement from the task force, which is comprised of the Agricultural Retailers Association, The Fertilizer Institute, state fertilizer associations, and several producers, distributors, and retailers of anhydrous ammonia fertilizer in North America, said retailers were encouraged “to use the most appropriate voluntary method for each facility. Best management practices, such as GloTell, nurse tank locks, increased pseudoephedrine regulation and now calcium nitrate, work together to decrease anhydrous ammonia theft.”
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