In his crisp blue Indiana State Police uniform, Chuck Tharp points to the table in front of him.

On display: A box of decongestant pills, a fire extinguisher, some camera batteries, a package of coffee filters, a blue plastic funnel and an assortment of chemicals ranging from rubbing alcohol to acetone.

"What you're looking at is one complete meth lab," Tharp tells the crowd inside Sullivan High School's cafeteria, as members of the audience - young and old - mumble and whisper in response.

The ingredients, he says, can be bought at nearly any discount or hardware store. The only exception is anhydrous ammonia, which meth "cooks" often syphon from tanks at agricultural co-ops or farmers' fields.

State Police troopers teach what's used to make the drug and how it's made, so people can recognize the steps of the process. But they don't mention the quantities of ingredients.

The troopers also warn of some things not to do - such as approaching a user who's "tweaking" - usually meaning an abuser hasn't slept for three to 15 days, is irritable and paranoid and craves more meth. Usually frustrated, a tweaker is often unpredictable and potentially violent.

"These people don't care about anything but their dope. Don't try to be a hero," State Police Trooper Mike Eslinger warns. "Be very, very careful with these people."

He continues, "This is an epidemic that's going to affect every one of us, if it hasn't already," Eslinger said.

The presentation was one of dozens put on by law enforcement at the request of organizations in the Wabash Valley last year.

Education and awareness, many stress, is key in slowing the epidemic of methamphetamine labs in the Wabash Valley.

"We can build a skyscraper of prisons. But that is not the answer," said Vigo County Sheriff Jon Marvel. If there's any answer, it's education, he said.

Kristin Chittick agrees. The Paris, Ill., woman heads the Coalition Against Methamphetamine Abuse, which has given about 10 presentations to businesses, church groups and physicians and hospital staff since forming a year ago.

The coalition's main focus: Prevention. Its message: "This community is not going to tolerate this," Chittick said of the prevalence of meth in Edgar and Clark counties, where most of the group's members reside.

The group, which formed with just three people, now has about 50 attending each month's meeting. Members include educators, police, business executives and addictions counselors, Chittick said.

"Collaboration is really the only way" to counter the meth problem, said Chittick, who is prevention coordinator at the Human Resources Center in Paris, a not-for-profit behavioral health center.

One of the coalition's goals is to get the same message about the dangers of meth out in as many venues as possible - the workplace, school and church. "That's where you're going to see the success," she said.

Like police, members of the organization offer presentations to virtually anyone who inquires, from businesses to hospitals and school groups.

Whenever she talks about the problem of meth, Chittick is careful to point out that not everyone uses the highly addictive drug that's so cheap to make. She wants to create awareness, not fear.

But at the same time she realizes, as Trooper Eslinger noted during his presentation, that meth's impact stretches beyond the user.

"It is touching people everywhere," Chittick said.