Meth lab 'cooks' man, apartment; two face drug counts

The Pioneer News ^ | January 14, 2004 | THOMAS BARR

[Republican Wildcat]

SHEPHERDSVILLE - Police authorities believe an attempt to cook up a batch of methamphetamine backfired Thursday evening sending one man to the hospital and his girlfriend to jail.

The Bullitt County Drug Task Force, along with the Shepherdsville Fire Department and the Shepherdsville Police Department, were called to an apartment off Highway 61 Thursday evening.

According to Ken Hardin, director of the Bullitt County Drug Task Force, were was evidence that Larry Tolson and Courtney Miller were in an apartment where methamphetamine was being manufactured.

Sometime around 9 p.m., a fire brought out due to an explosion, which Hardin said was caused by Tolson not following the proper directions to make the illegal drug.

Tolson, 34, and Miller, 24, were charged with criminal attempt to manufacture methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and four counts of wanton endangerment.

Hardin said the wanton endangerment charges relates to four neighbors who were put in danger due to the explosion.

Miller was taken to the Bullitt County Detention Center and Tolson was taken to University of Louisville Hospital and is still in the burn unit. He will be arrested once he is released from the hospital, said Hardin.

"He was trying to run through the recipe without paying attention to the measurements," predicted Hardin.

Over the past year, Hardin said this was the fifth or sixth fire and explosion due to the manufacturing of methamphetamine.

He was amazed that the fire didn't gut several other apartments.

In talking with witnesses, it appeared that some of the items used for the production were taken to the dumpster, which also caught on fire.

The fire department responded quickly but it appeared the occupant had the apartment blaze controlled by the time they arrived.

No one else was injured but one couple was displaced for the night due to the fumes.

Hardin encouraged anyone who suspects something suspicious to call the local police or the tipline (955-CLUE). Clues may be windows that are left open during a cold winter day or chemical fumes coming from an apartment.

The state fire marshal is investigating the latest blaze. Hardin said it was amazing that more damage wasn't due to the fire and explosion.

[Republican Wildcat]

Good grief.

[goldstategop]

That's a hearty dinner for a guy to cook with his girlfriend.

[cyborg]

bwahahaha what a darwin specimen

[11B3]

"He was trying to run through the recipe without paying attention to the measurements"

It's a good thing he was making dope and not explosives.

[ClintonBeGone]

bwahahaha what a darwin specimen

If it wasn't for the war on drugs. . . . .this guy would still be with us.

[cyborg]

Should be forced to watch the film Frozen Addicts and what a little 'slip' in the measurements will do.

[cyborg]

yep I'm quite comfortable with people turning themselves into unproductive zombies with their bathtub drugs without government intervention

[PFKEY]

Haven't seen the film but I thought that the bathtub chemist had to be a bit more scientific than just willy nilly mixing the right ingredients.

Had he not blown his concoction up I wonder what it was he would end up with.

Dead customers?

[Twinkie]

These meth labs are blowing up all over the place. Little
kids living in these holes are so contaminated their
clothes & other belongings have to be burned because
they're so toxic. This stuff is real bad news. Instantly
addictive and should be called "the river of no return",
because every ingredient in it is designed to take a person
prisoner after one dose. If you're with someone you don't
know or don't trust, don't leave them alone with your
cold drink. Dealers have been using the old "salting"
trick to hook people for a long time.

[cyborg]

I wonder what would happen to him if some of his customers turned up dead but I don't want to start a WOD flame session.

[PFKEY]

Never seen a thread concerning this topic that doesn't end in a WOD flame.

[NicNacPattyWac]

luckily noone was killed in this explosion. We have a neighbor who recently lost her daughter and son in law in a similar curcumstance. The doper in the next apartment had his "mixture" blow up, which caused a fire in their apartment and blocked their exit. They were found hovering together in their bathtub and died from smoke inhalation.

[Pelham]

Don't you just hate it when the ether catches fire and blows up the house...

[trussell]

My grandmother lives in a senior housing apartment building in Montana. Just about a year ago, there was a drug bust in her building. It seems that 2 men and one woman were running a meth lab in the senior apartment building!! LOL, that was quite a bit of excitement for the old folks that lived there!!

[TonyRo76]

Self-inflicted stupidity, anyone?

[Land of the Free 04]

These meth labs are blowing up all over the place. Little kids living in these holes are so contaminated their clothes & other belongings have to be burned because they're so toxic.

And it's the War On (Some) Drugs that motivates morons to cook meth in their homes. Without the WOSD, home labs would command about as much of the meth market as moonshine stills command of the alcohol market.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

If it wasn't for the war on drugs. . . . .this guy would still be with us.

I believe, sad to say, that he still is with us.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

yep I'm quite comfortable with people turning themselves into unproductive zombies with their bathtub drugs without government intervention

Then they end up on welfare or some other form of government assistance. That then comes out of my and your tax money and I then am directly affected by their illegal activities.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Without the WOSD, home labs would command about as much of the meth market as moonshine stills command of the alcohol market.

"WOSD", War on some drugs, a pet LeRoy phrase if I ever heard one.

Welcome back dude.

[ClintonBeGone]

I believe, sad to say, that he still is with us.

I'm sure fate will catch up to him. It aways does :)

[Cultural Jihad]

Hardin said the wanton endangerment charges relates to four neighbors who were put in danger due to the explosion.

Wouldn't this sort of law be against the law in a Libertarian Worker's Paradise? After all, the neighbors were not harmed and no fraud or force was used against them. The authorities should have waited until the neighbors were actually burned before acting. Then it all would have been a crime (assuming it could be proved that the neighbors didn't first consent to being burned, or for that matter, did consent to being helped!) < /sarc >

[Land of the Free 04]

"WOSD", War on some drugs, a pet LeRoy phrase

LeRoy is the only FReeper who ever used that phrase?

[AppyPappy]

Ahh....so if we legalized Meth, we wouldn't have these problems. Except that anyone who sold Meth would be sued to death. Then people would resort to making it at home. So we would have these problems.

[Land of the Free 04]

Then they end up on welfare or some other form of government assistance. That then comes out of my and your tax money and I then am directly affected by their illegal activities.

No, you are directly affected only by the government's money grab. It's not a conservative point of view to use one intrusion on rights as an excuse for another intrusion on rights.

[Land of the Free 04]

Ahh....so if we legalized Meth, we wouldn't have these problems. Except that anyone who sold Meth would be sued to death.

Not clear; substances comparably hazardous to meth are sold every day.

[Land of the Free 04]

substances comparably hazardous to meth are sold legally every day.

[AppyPappy]

Such as...

[AxelPaulsenJr]

No, you are directly affected only by the government's money grab. It's not a conservative point of view to use one intrusion on rights as an excuse for another intrusion on rights.

If the government doesn't grab my money to take care of someone who has toked, blown,snorted, or injected himself into oblivion, where does it get the money to take care of the fool, when he or she is no longer able to take care of themselves?

It is a conservative point of view to let the people decide on issues such as illegal drug legalization, and to date in 3 out of 4 issues brought to the ballot, they have decided no.

[Land of the Free 04]

One-third of those who have ever used tobacco have been dependent on it. And alcohol can kill its user in one night of drinking.

[Cultural Jihad]

substances comparably hazardous to meth are sold legally every day.

If snorting Drano were to become a huge national problem resulting in unneeded suffering and death then rest assured that a self-governing Constitutional Republic based upon the worth and value of human life would act upon it, too.

[Land of the Free 04]

If the government doesn't grab my money to take care of someone who has toked, blown,snorted, or injected himself into oblivion, where does it get the money to take care of the fool

It shouldn't get the money at all---THAT'S the consevative point of view.

It is a conservative point of view to let the people decide on issues such as illegal drug legalization

On the state level, yes. On the federal level, the Constitution grants no authority over intrastate drug matters.

[Cultural Jihad]

One cigarette never killed anyone. Clamoring for some sort of socialist equality for vices is neither advisable nor conservative.

[AppyPappy]

But meth is better. OK!

[Land of the Free 04]

If snorting Drano were to become a huge national problem

In what way is meth "a huge national problem"? I'll bet alcohol is doing more harm day in and day out, but we're getting by.

resulting in unneeded suffering and death then rest assured that a self-governing Constitutional Republic based upon the worth and value of human life would act upon it, too.

Our Constitutional Republic is based upon a limited grant of power that does not include authority over intrastate drug matters.

[AppyPappy]

I'll bet alcohol is doing more harm day in and day out, but we're getting by.

Note: Alcohol is a legal substance therefore it is more common. No wonder we have more problems.

[Land of the Free 04]

One cigarette never killed anyone.

One night of drinking has.

Clamoring for some sort of socialist equality for vices is

... not my argument. Beat your straw men somewhere else.

[Land of the Free 04]

But meth is better.

Having fun beating that straw man?

[Land of the Free 04]

Alcohol is a legal substance therefore it is more common.

What is the support for your "therefore"? I believe alcohol remained quite common even when illegal.

[AppyPappy]

Your words

"substances comparably hazardous to meth are sold legally every day."

[Johnny Gage]

    DOH!

[bc2]

Here in Upstate NY we don't really have a lot of meth. This is a huge marijuana area and that is pretty much what most folks stick with thank God. The hard core always have cocaine and crack. There is a huge problem with cocaine and heroin being shipped, broken up, and sold along a rural highway that stretches from Buffalo to Albany, (Routes 5 & 20). I went to high school south of Rochester in a town that had Routes 5 & 20 go through our school district. Now, 6 years later, I know a couple of people who sell cocaine and heroin in these small towns, and I know a few more people who are all strung out on this junk.

I have a friend in Eastern Washington State who is studying to be a forensic technician. She says that out there, meth is like marijuana is out here: everyone is doing it and it's easy to get. People are making it with the same frequency as people out here are growing pot. Some big operations, some bathtub chemists. She says you can smell the labs from about a mile away and that at least one or two blow up every month. I've gotten articles from her detailing as many as 9 busts in a single day, way out in the middle of Podunk, Washington (not a real town but you get my point).

Methamphetamines are nasty because the cooking process is so dangerous and volatile, and the leftovers (not to mention the drug itself) is so poisonous and toxic. It's also scary how many ways you can ingest that drug! It can be snorted, smoked, injected, eaten, drunk, etc. I don't know about anyone else but I'll take a bunch of stoned gardeners over tweaked out, toxic screwheads any day. The more that blow themselves up (without damaging anyone else's lives or property) the better!

[cjshapi]

Dopes on dope!

[Land of the Free 04]

Your words

"substances comparably hazardous to meth are sold legally every day."

If you can't figure out the difference between that and "meth is better," I can't help you--try an English As A Second Language course.

[AppyPappy]

Ok, so you think Meth is as safe as cigarettes and alcohol. Correct?

[Land of the Free 04]

Which part of "comparably" did you not understand?

[AppyPappy]

I can understand your unwillingness to back your own statement (considering how stupid it sounds) but blaming me for your carelessness is rather silly.

[philman_36]

Ahh....so if we legalized Meth, we wouldn't have these problems.
Meth is already legal if you've got a prescription. How many times does this need to be explained to people?!
Methamphetamine ( Desoxyn )

[Land of the Free 04]

your unwillingness to back your own statement

I fully back my own statement---what I reject is your distortions of it.

[AppyPappy]

I should know better than to get involved in these threads. My bad. Have a GREAT day!

[cyborg]

If one is going to have a pure libertarian stance on drugs, then there would NO government intervention period. However there's that then there's real life and not sure exactly how this problem is to be solved. I do know that the 'war on drugs' isn't working but I don't believe in the simplistic 'legalize it' way either.