News / Education
Tennessee Tops In Meth
This isn’t a list you want to make, but a recent study showed that Tennessee ranks No. 2 in the nation for the most number of meth labs.
Laws that made it harder to obtain pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in the production of methamphetamine, were successful in cutting down the number of meth labs nationwide, but now those numbers are on the rise again.
Tennessee and Meth
A recent report shows that Tennessee is ranked No. 2 in meth labs, with 1,400 of the illegal drug dens found in the Volunteer state in 2009. The only state that rated higher was Missouri, with nearby Kentucky ranking No. 3. Tennessee’s previous highest year was in 2004 when the state had 1,327 meth labs.
According to figures released by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), there were 553 meth incidents in Tennessee in 2008, ranking the state third behind Missouri and Indiana. (A meth “incident” can include a lab, dumpsite or discovery of chem/glass/equipment.) The huge jump has the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations and regional law enforcement understandably concerned.
“Meth production dropped dramatically after the Legislature passed a law in 2005 requiring pharmacies to keep pseudoephedrine tablets behind the counter, limit purchases to a certain amount of grams and require a driver's license for purchase,” Nashville’s WSMV news reported.
Drugs dealers are getting creative in getting around the law, though. “Because the database doesn't have real-time updates, there is no way for law enforcement to know if cooks are ‘smurfing,’ which is when they hit multiple pharmacies and buy the limit at each one,” WSMV added.
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