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Statistics About Meth In 2005, nearly 6.2% of high school seniors reported using methamphetamine at least once. The number of 12-17 year olds admitted to treatment for meth addiction more than doubled between 1994 and 2004. In North Dakota, an estimated 60% of the male prison population are meth users. 80- 90% of the female prison population were incarcerated for meth related offenses. More than 85% of meth in the US comes from superlabs in California and Mexico. Mexican drug rings often use safe houses on Indian reservations to facilitate distribution into North Dakota. In 2004, 8,000 meth labs were seized in the US. Child welfare workers removed more than 3,000 children from the labs. According to the North Dakota Attorney General’s office, state legislation which controlled sale of over-the-counter cold medications like Sudafed reduced the number of local labs significantly from 190 lab incidents in 2005 to 40 in 2006. The manufacture of a pound of meth creates 5-6 pounds of toxic waste. Minnesota drug officials closed down a meth lab in 2003 being operated in a ice-fishing shack. The cookers were dumping waste into the ice hole, poisoning the lake. Small clandestine labs use any of hundred of different recipes to manufacture meth. Because the recipe using anhydrous ammonia was developed by the Germans during WWII, it is called the "Nazi" method of meth production. Meth manufacture creates toxic fumes and hazardous waste by-products that can poison water, pollute lakes, permeate walls and flooring and cause fires and explosions. MethWatch is a program piloted in Nebraska. The program is used to train retail sales personnel to recognize individuals purchasing large quantities or shoplifting products which can be used to cook meth:
It takes only $1,000 worth of ingredients to make $20,000 worth of meth. According to police, the price of a dose of cocaine that would give a user a 20 minute high will buy enough meth to keep a user buzzed for a day or two. The makeshift equipment of an average clandestine lab would fit in a small cardboard box or cooler. Meth labs have been set up in kitchens, bath tubs, sheds, back yards, ice houses and vehicles. According to experts, successful prevention programs
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Shadow of Meth is funded by a grant from the US Department of Justice through the Rural Crime & Justice Center at Minot State University |
