Just two years after the country saw a drastic drop in the seizure of methamphetamine labs, the numbers are inching back up in pockets across the country.
Does that mean laws regulating cold medicine — meth's main ingredient — weren't the answer that police and legislators thought they would be?
Nope, authorities say. It just means that some meth cooks found a way around that law and now authorities are trying to get a step ahead. Yet again.
"They become familiar with techniques, they find out ways to do things differently," said Detective Howard Shipley, supervisor of the drug enforcement unit for the Reno County (Kan.) Sheriff’s Department. "That's pretty common with the entire drug network. Change is constant."
This time, authorities say, meth cooks are "smurfing" — going from business to business buying all the cold medicine they legally can, hoping authorities don't catch on. Laws in both Kansas and Missouri limit the amount of pseudoephedrine a person can buy each day or each month.
Trouble is, these logs are kept on paper and not electronically. That means it can be tough and time-consuming to track and charge violators.
But authorities say they are taking the time and looking for solutions. They say they can't let the number of meth labs keep rising.
Read the complete story at kansascity.com