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4/29/13 Danger on wheels: Cops grapple with rise in rolling meth labs as more addicts employ 'one-pot' cooking method - NY Daily News www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/u-s-grapples-rise-rolling-meth-labs-article-1.1320625?print 1/7 Danger on wheels: Cops grapple with rise in rolling meth labs as more addicts employ 'one-pot' cooking method Like a scene out of TV's 'Breaking Bad,' methamphetamine makers are using vehicles to churn out the highly addictive drug. Law enforcement across the United States say a jump in the so-called 'shake and bake' method for cooking meth is contributing to an increase in lab incidents — and endangering communities. BY ERIK ORTIZ / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2013, 11:00 PM TENNESSEE METHAMPHETAMINE & PHAR An example of a car in Tennessee that w as f ound to have ingredients used in meth production. Tennessee authorities have seized more than 207 meth labs in the first 30 days of 2013, a 35% increase from the same time last year. Walter White wannabes are taking meth manufacturing on the road — and they’re using a method that’s exploding at an alarming rate. The highly addictive drug is being easily cooked thanks to a so-called “one-pot” technique, which allows users to whip up the stimulant in a single serving. And because it doesn’t require an elaborate arrangement, covert cooks are setting up shop in cars and going undetected. “At home, one of their buddies might rat them out,” said Joe Mazzuca, CEO of operations for Idaho-based Meth Lab Cleanup LLC. “But in a car, they’re driving around. No one knows where they’re at.” DAILY NEWS Crime
Transcript of Danger on wheels: Cops grapple with rise in rolling meth...
4/29/13 Danger on wheels: Cops grapple with rise in rolling meth labs as more addicts employ 'one-pot' cooking method - NY Daily News
www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/u-s-grapples-rise-rolling-meth-labs-article-1.1320625?print 1/7
Danger on wheels: Cops grapple with rise in rollingmeth labs as more addicts employ 'one-pot'cooking methodLike a scene out of TV's 'Breaking Bad,' methamphetamine makers are using vehicles to churn outthe highly addictive drug. Law enforcement across the United States say a jump in the so-called'shake and bake' method for cooking meth is contributing to an increase in lab incidents — andendangering communities.
BY ERIK ORTIZ / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2013, 11:00 PM
TENNESSEE METHAMPHETAMINE & PHAR
An example of a car in Tennessee that w as found to have ingredients used in meth production. Tennessee authorities have seized
more than 207 meth labs in the f irst 30 days of 2013, a 35% increase from the same time last year.
Walter White wannabes are taking meth manufacturing on the road — and they’re using a method that’s
exploding at an alarming rate.
The highly addictive drug is being easily cooked thanks to a so-called “one-pot” technique, which allows users
to whip up the stimulant in a single serving.
And because it doesn’t require an elaborate arrangement, covert cooks are setting up shop in cars and going
undetected.
“At home, one of their buddies might rat them out,” said Joe Mazzuca, CEO of operations for Idaho-based
Meth Lab Cleanup LLC. “But in a car, they’re driving around. No one knows where they’re at.”
DAILY NEWS
Crime
4/29/13 Danger on wheels: Cops grapple with rise in rolling meth labs as more addicts employ 'one-pot' cooking method - NY Daily News
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TENNESSEE METHAMPHETAMINE & PHAR
The remains of a vehicle destroyed in a shake-and-bake meth lab accident in Clarksville, Tenn., in August 2011. A police dashboard
camera caught the vehicle on f ire (inset).
While federal agencies don’t specifically track the number of mobile meth labs, total meth lab incidents nearly
doubled from 6,951 in 2007 to 13,530 in 2011, according to the latest U.S. Government Accountability Office
report.
FACES OF METH: STRIKING INFOGRAPHIC SHOWS DRUGS TERRIFYING TOLL
The drug has been especially devastating in the Midwest and South, although other states are grappling with a
sharp rise. New York’s meth lab incidents, for instance, climbed from 13 in 2007 to 46 in 2011.
Law enforcement experts trace the spread to the one-pot method, also referred to as “shake and bake,” which
involves mixing together meth’s toxic ingredients in a 2-liter bottle. About 2 to 6 grams of meth is produced in
a couple of hours.
METH LAB CLEANUP LLC
This RV w as found stolen in Olive Branch, Miss., in December 2012. Residue inside of it tested positive for methamphetamine.
“It requires very few ingredients,” said Tommy Farmer, the Meth Task Force director in Tennessee, home to
the nation’s most meth lab seizures in 2011. “The majority of our lab seizures are small labs — and they get
very mobile.”
4/29/13 Danger on wheels: Cops grapple with rise in rolling meth labs as more addicts employ 'one-pot' cooking method - NY Daily News
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The types of vehicles that are used vary from pickup trucks to tractor-trailers. RVs, such as the one used by
high school chemistry teacher Walter White in the TV drama, “Breaking Bad,” are also popular choices,
Mazzuca said.
“We’ve been in business 10 years, and this last year has been the majority that we’ve seen of these cases,”
he added. “We get alerts all the time, so it’s shocking how many cars police bust involved in shake and bake.”
METH LAB CLEANUP LLC
The inside of a stolen RV in Olive Branch, Miss., that tested positive for methamphetamine.
It can be difficult to detect a car doubling as a meth lab, said Sgt. Niki Crawford, who heads the Indiana State
Police’s meth suppression unit.
“You might get a smell of ammonia or another strong chemical smell, but that doesn’t necessarily hang
around,” Crawford said. “You’d have to catch someone as they’re (manufacturing) it.”
RELATED: 'BREAKING BAD' BRINGS TOURISTS TO ALBUQUERQUE FOR 'METH' TREATS
The recipe requires pseudoephedrine, a nasal decongestant found in certain cold medicines, along with
various household items, including water, first-aid cold packs and lithium batteries.
4/29/13 Danger on wheels: Cops grapple with rise in rolling meth labs as more addicts employ 'one-pot' cooking method - NY Daily News
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METH LAB CLEANUP LLC
Drug paraphernalia, including spoons and needles, found in a stolen RV in in Olive Branch, Miss.
Given the criminal element attached to meth making, the cars involved are sometimes stolen, Crawford said,
and cops later come across them during police work.
Authorities also find the cars when the ingredients are handled improperly — causing an explosion that can
seriously injure the cook.
Cars seized in a meth bust can be impounded as evidence or, in the case of a stolen vehicle, released back
to the owner.
To protect consumers, eight states have laws requiring car dealers to inform buyers whether a vehicle has
possible meth residue. They are: Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Washington
and West Virginia.
EL PASO INTELLIGENCE CENTER
A map show ing the number of meth lab incidents in 2012, according to the El Paso Intelligence Center. Numbers may vary from
other sources.
A similar mobile meth-lab bill is being considered in Indiana, where incidents jumped 76% from 2007 to 2011.
4/29/13 Danger on wheels: Cops grapple with rise in rolling meth labs as more addicts employ 'one-pot' cooking method - NY Daily News
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If passed, sellers who fail to notify consumers could be required to pay for the car’s decontamination and up to
$10,000 in damages.
Mazzuca said rehabbing a meth-tainted car could run $3,000 to $7,000, including the cost of replacing the
interior upholstery.
But more action is needed to slay the meth monster nationwide, law enforcement agencies say.
AP
A display of items used in the 'shake-and-bake' method of manufacturing methamphetamine. The new technique uses far less of
the drug pseudoephedrine than traditional methods.
Although an estimated 80% of meth sold in the United States comes from “superlabs” in Mexico, the small-
time operators can be hobbled if the government turns pseudoephedrine into a prescription-only drug, said Rob
Bovett, the district attorney in Lincoln County, Ore.
Oregon did so in 2005 and has seen meth lab incidents dwindle from a high of 614 in 2002 to only 11 in 2011.
Mississippi in 2010 became the second state to do so, and meth lab incidents there fell from 937 that year to
321 in 2011, federal data shows.
Most states have some type of law regulating pseudoephedrine, although not as strict as Oregon and
Mississippi.
SMOKEYBARN VIA YOUTUBE
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Authorities w ear Hazmat suits to investigate a mobile meth lab parked outside of a Walmart Supercenter in Springfield, Tenn., last
year.
“Congress has spent the last 30 years putting Band-Aids on a gaping wound, and kowtowing to the
pharmaceutical industry and their surrogates, who use power, influence and money at the direct expense of
public health and safety,” Bovett charged. “The industry should be ashamed, but they have no shame.”
Over-the-counter cold remedies remain a lucrative market, with Americans spending an estimated $4.2 billion
a year on such products.
The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, an industry trade group, said that while it supports some
legislation, such as blocking the sale of Sudafed to convicted meth heads, it doesn’t believe the medicine
should be harder to get.
SMOKEYBARN VIA YOUTUBE
The toxic ingredients of methamphetamine require investigators to w ear protective suits. Authorities had arrested a driver in
connection w ith a mobile meth lab in Springfield, Tenn., last year.
“We are looking for effective solutions that punish criminals, not law-abiding citizens,” said association
spokeswoman Elizabeth Funderburk.
Farmer, the Tennessee task force official, said as meth continues ravaging American communities,
lawmakers shouldn’t delay making pseudoephedrine a controlled substance.
“I’ve never seen another drug come down the pike as devastating as this,” Farmer said. “We’re already off to a
gangbuster year.”
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