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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The scary basics of 'shake and bake' meth

We're choosy about passing along stories from The Associated Press because they get very wide circulation, but this one by Justin Juozapavicius out of Tulsa commands our attention and, we hope, yours: "This is the new formula for methamphetamine: a two-liter soda bottle, a few handfuls of cold pills and some noxious chemicals. Shake the bottle and the volatile reaction produces one of the world's most addictive drugs."

We've reported on the "shake and bake" way to make methampehtamine, but that's the best lede we've seen. And there's real news: "An Associated Press review of lab seizures and interviews with state and federal law enforcement agents found that the new method is rapidly spreading across the nation's midsection and is contributing to a spike in the number of meth cases after years of declining arrests."

Juozapavicius explains why: "Because the new method uses far less pseudoephedrine, small-time users are able to make the drug in spite of a federal law that bars customers from buying more than 9 grams — roughly 300 pills — a month. And he delivers this warning: "One little mistake, such as unscrewing the bottle cap too fast, can result in a huge blast, and police in Alabama, Oklahoma and other states have linked dozens of flash fires this year — some of them fatal — to meth manufacturing." (Read more)

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