Watch the Meth in San Juan County documentary here.
What is meth?
Methampthetamine(meth) is a highly additive drug that is easily produced by combining a numer of chemicals, which can be extracted from readily available products. These products include over the counter cold medicines, diet pills, and household products such as lithium batteries, matches, tincture of iodine and hydrogen peroxide. Flammable household products, including charcol lighter fluid, gasoline, kerosene, paint thinner, rubbing alcohol, and mineral spirits may be used in the mix.
Originally confined to the west coast and certain rural mid-western areas, methamphetamine abuse and trafficking have been spreading eastward over the past decade, and the number of methamphetamine laboraties seized by U.S. law enforcement agencies increased by 25 percent between 2001 and 2004. In fact, an stimated 10 million Americans have tried meth at some point in their lives. Among young adults age 18 to 25, there are nearly 200,000 current meth users. A recent study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse showed that the drug is associated with risky behavior, particularly among women.
What are “Precursors”?
Meth is made using readily available products obtained from retail, convenience, grocery, granges, automotive, and veterinary supply stores. Over-the-counter cold and allergy medications often contain ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, the most critical ingredient in the production of methamphetamine. The manufacturing process also uses ingredients such as lithium batteries, acetone, starter fluid, drain cleaner, rock or table salt, lye, matchbooks, rubbing alcohol, muriatic acid, and gasoline additives. As you can see, these items are available in many stores and most are probably found in your house or garage.
Anhydrous ammonia is another precursor commonly used in the meth process. It is usually stolen from tanks located on farms and ag dealer distribution facilities. Anhydrous ammonia is an extremely dangerous chemical, venting to a gas at -28° F. Thieves will commonly damage the valves or hose on the tanks, which can cause a life-threatening situation. If an unsuspecting employee or grower is unaware of the damage to the hose and opens the valve, escaping anhydrous could cause chemical and temperature burns and even result in fatal injury.
The availability of the products needed for producing meth contributes to the growing meth problem in our state. Because meth users become their own drug suppliers by becoming meth “cooks”, the dangers associated with the labs themselves increase the urgency of a retailer assistance program.
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What are the Meth “Ingredients and Equipment”?
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Farmington, NM 87401