SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – It’s not exactly a statistic that will make Missouri residents swell with pride, but the Show-Me State may be close to reclaiming the distinction as the nation’s methamphetamine capitol, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol.
According to Missouri Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Ron Replogle, the state is set to displace current meth lab leader Kentucky with around 2,100 meth lab seizures by the end of the year, The Springfield News-Leader reports.
“We are going to exceed 2,000 (labs) this year,” he said last Thursday during a session of the Springfield DWI Task Force. Officials in Springfield last week reviewed a proposal to support efforts to make pseudoephedrine tablets – the basic ingredient of meth – available by prescription only in Missouri, the News-Leader reports.
Replogle says that as states have adopted more restrictive rules on purchasing the drug over the counter, production has shifted from large-scale labs to small, one bottle labs that can be used in houses, motel rooms or even cars.
The News-Leader reports that meth labs often pose environmental and health hazards.
