Meth labs and deaths mushroom in Oklahoma

The number of methamphetamine labs and related deaths are on the rise in the state that was the first in the country to pass a law limiting access to one of the drug's key ingredients. Data from the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control reveals 743 meth labs were discovered in 2009, up from 148 in 2006, Julie Bisbee of The Oklahoman reports. The rate of deaths from meth overdoses more than doubled, rising from 27 in 2008 to 51 in the first nine months of 2009.

"It’s always a game of cat and mouse," Darrell Weaver, director of the bureau, told Bisbee. "Law enforcement adapts, and criminals keep finding a way to work around it." In 2004 Oklahoma became the first state to reduce access to pseudoephedrine, a key meth ingredient used in over-the-counter decongestants, by limiting the amount of the drug customers can  buy each month. Congress later followed the state's lead and made the restrictions federal law. Initially, the number of meth labs dropped, but the popularity of the "shake and bake" method, which requires less equipment to make meth, has production back on the rise.

"The ingredients for a 'one pot' lab can be found at discount stores for under $25," Bisbee writes. Some law enforcement officials say the problem won't be solved until pseudoephedrine becomes a prescription-only drug, Bisbee reports. "This is a problem that’s honestly not being seen in a lot of places," Tulsa Police Department spokesman Jason Willingham told Bisbee. "Until that happens we’ll be known as the meth capital of the world." (Read more)