No Cost to Retailers

Meth Watch is a free program that provides training and preventive tools to any retail establishment that sells products that can be used to make methamphetamine. Funded by a grant from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), stores receive a kit with a training video, shelf display markers, and other educational tools, as well as suspicious transaction report materials to provide information to local law enforcement. This is the first formal training and lead report program of its kind and program developers have high hopes for its potential for success.

Public safety officials also hold high hopes about the potential of the program. "Law enforcement needs every part of the community to be vigilant if were going to slow the production and ultimately use of methamphetamine in Iowa," said Ken Carter, director of the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement. "Part of the greatest danger in the growth of this drug is the very accessible, yet highly toxic nature of the ingredients that are used to make it. The volatility of the ingredients and the propensity for makeshift labs to explode without warning poses a community danger well beyond addiction to the drug itself."

Methamphetamine can be made using a variety of easily accessible items including, but not limited to, over the counter cold medications, rubbing alcohol, and lithium batteries. Meth Watch provides the training for clerks to recognize when suspiciously large quantities or combinations of meth ingredients are purchased. Clerks are armed with a checklist that with a checklist that enables them to quickly write down the critical data law enforcement officials need to follow up on the lead.

For more information on Meth Watch, call 800- 795-1729 or check out the website at www.iowamethwatch.com.

"Iowa Meth Watch gives grocers and other retailers the opportunity to participate in something much like a neighborhood watch. It is a proactive, yet non-confrontational way for everyone from the manager to a cashier to the public to identify and report suspicious purchases in a very concise and consistent way,” said Jerry Fleagle, president of the Iowa Grocery Industry Association.