METH USE ON THE RISE
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011 -- 10:35 AM
After several years of decline, use of the dangerous drug ?meth? is back on the climb.One reason: a new recipe referred to as ?shake and bake? meth is making it easier for users and sellers to manufacture the drug.
"A meth addict or user can just make personal consumptions, or smaller consumptions that he or she can use and sell some of it too," explains Jed Sperry with the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation.
Meth use declined steadily from 2002 to 2008, but it exploded again in 2009. Sperry says there was a 60% increase in first-time users around the country in 2009.
The drug is a highly toxic blend of readily available chemicals?primarily pseudoephedrine??cooked? at makeshift labs.
There have been two meth busts in Clark County in the last couple of months, the most recent turned up evidence of a meth lab in rural Loyal.
Sperry says structures where meth is cooked are treated like a hazmat scene.
"Agents that make entry into a lab wear special equipment, Air Purifying Respirators (APRs), Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus, we wear special clothes," he explains.
They also wear flame-retardant clothing, because the chemical mixtures can be explosive.
A certified clean-up crew needs to be called in to appropriately dispose of the chemicals and clean the property. The average cost to taxpayers is between $1,700 to $2,400.
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