Friday, April 11, 2008

With laws limiting access to other ingredients, meth makers again target anhydrous ammonia

Like many states, a couple of years ago Texas enacted legislation to control the sale of key ingredients used in the production of methamphetamine. While that slowed production for a while, meth producers have returned to the old-fashioned source of one of those ingredients, farmers' tanks of anhydrous ammonia, reports Dan Packard of The Amarillo Globe-News. As a result, a meth labs are appearing in rural Texas once again, according to a local sheriff.

"We've found evidence of labs out in the country -- not in a barn, not in a house, just on the side of the road or in the middle of a pasture," Danny Alexander, spokesman for the Randall County Sheriff's Office, told Packard. While Alexander said the number of arrests for possession of meth has not gone up, the number of related crimes, such as burglaries and robberies has. The sheriff's office urged farmers to conceal their anhydrous ammonia tanks and for locals to report signs of meth cooks, such as trash from unwrapped lithium batteries, cold medication packs or a coffee filter container. (Read more)

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