ST. LOUIS -- Methamphetamine lab busts in Missouri increased about 7 percent in 2011 but declined in areas where decongestants containing the key ingredient are available only by prescription, according to totals released Tuesday by the Missouri Highway Patrol.
In all, Missouri finished 2011 with 2,096 lab seizures. Illinois, with twice Missouri's population, raided 584 meth labs.
St. Louis saw one of the biggest jumps, a sixfold increase to 24 labs from four, according to the patrol.
City police already have seized eight meth labs so far this year, said Lt. Adrienne Bergh, commander of the Narcotics Unit.
"It's because a lot of the outlying areas are requiring prescriptions for pseudoephedrine products and it's still not a requirement in the city to have a prescription," she said. Labs are used to convert pseudoephedrine into meth.
An electronic database financed by the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which represents the pharmaceutical industry, began tracking purchases of pseudoephedrine on Jan. 1, 2011.
The system blocked 49,000 consumers last year from topping monthly or annual sales limits.
Association spokesperson Elizabeth Funderburk said the database may account for the increase in raids.
"In terms of labs being on the increase, law enforcement has an effective tool to find methamphetamine labs and it stands to reason that when you have a good tool, you will find more labs -- just like if you have a radar gun, you will catch more speeders," she said.
Some law enforcement agencies argue that the database is not enough to thwart meth cooks who hire large numbers of people, each making purchases within the legal limits. Last week, the Post-Dispatch reported the federal indictments of a white supremacist who allegedly partnered with an African-American gang member in St. Louis to provide such a supply network.
Patrol figures show meth lab raids declining by 50 to 60 percent in southeastern Missouri, where most counties have prescription laws and pharmacies in neighboring Arkansas, Illinois and Tennessee refuse to sell to Missouri residents.
"It's quite apparent in these numbers that requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine has an immediate affect on meth labs," said Franklin County sheriff's Sgt. Jason Grellner, an advocate of prescription laws.
In St. Louis, Bergh said she thinks the number of raids was driven up by increased training.
"We've put on classes for officers so that they recognize when they have a call and see coffee filters, starting fluid, two-liter bottles, tubing and cold medication together, which are things that are typically stored in different places in a house, that something else might be going on," Bergh said.
Labs have been concentrated on the city's south side, but some have been found this year in the Old North St. Louis area.
"Up until last year, it wasn't something we investigated too much, because in the city it was a rare occurrence," she said. "Now we're seeing it more often."
Copyright 2012 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
