DATA
Enter
HUFFINGTON
10.27.13
SOURCE(S): EL PASO INTELLIGENCE CENTER (EPIC), NATIONAL SECURITY SYSTEM (NSS), QUERY DATE JAN. 27, 2013. MEDIAMALITIA.COM (SMOKE)
The Methiest States in the U.S.
The multimillion-dollar superlab of Breaking
Bad may be gone, but thousands of meth labs
around the country remain. The midwestern
states tend to see the most incidents involving
meth labs, and Missouri outranks all others with
1,825 busts and seizures in 2012, according to
a Government Accountability Office analysis of
Drug Enforcement Administration data.
Moreover, an increasingly popular crude
cooking method known as “shake and bake”
has put meth production in addicts’ hands,
eliminating the need for an RV or even
chemistry know-how. It takes about 15 minutes
to “shake and bake” a batch of meth in a plastic
bottle using ingredients you may already have
lying around the house. Sometimes the bottle
explodes, badly burning the often uninsured
meth cook and anyone else in the line of fire.
Meth use cost the U.S. economy around $23.4
billion in 2005, according to a RAND Corporation
study. While incidents involving meth labs have
tapered somewhat in recent years, thanks to the
rise of “shake and bake” hospitals have noticed
an uptick in meth burn cases. It costs around
$230,000 to treat a meth lab burn victim,
Mother Jones reported. The most common age of
these victims: less than 4 years old.
Oregon and Mississippi have figured out
how to curb these accidents by making
the key meth ingredient pseudoephedrine
THE MIDWEST BREAKS BAD TOTAL METH LABORATORY INCIDENTS*
1,825
8
8
15
9
3
6
10
3
3
492
1,429
1,585
634
919
31
376
801
9
79
2
14
9
136
678
32
1
192
10-30
30-80
80-200
3
1
1
2
457
9
13
1
0
NA
60
55
284
0
5-10
96
4
355
100
17
147
59 221
5
0-5
7
200-500
500+
*Including labs,
dumpsites,
chem / glass /
equipment