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Missouri the top state in the U.S. for meth lab busts
Posted: 02.23.2012 at 4:09 PM
Jim Whitfield

Jim Whitfield is a News Reporter for KHQA.

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HANNIBAL, MO. -- A survey of the nation's top methamphetamine-producing states shows national lab seizures rose again last year.

The Associated Press survey confirmed that Missouri regained the top spot for lab seizures in 2011 with just more than 2,000 busts.

It also found that Tennessee came in second with almost 1,700, followed by Indiana, Kentucky and Oklahoma.

Marion County Missouri Sheriff Jimm Shinn, is the former commander of the Northeast Missouri Drug Task Force and he said the new way to cook meth is one of the big factors in the increase in meth lab busts.

"There's no more of the you know functional labs if you will that we saw a decade ago," he said. "Basically it' snow the shake and bake method, which they can basically do the whole process in about an hour or hour and a half in the back seat of their car using a two liter bottle."

He said the NEMO Task Force has even seen an increase in the number of busts they've had over the last few years.

In 2009, the task force seized 56 labs. In 2010 the number of labs busted increased to 59 and in 2011 the number went up again to 84.

Federal data the AP obtained this week from the Drug Enforcement Administration appeared to show meth lab seizures remained about even during the past two years.

But totals from the states surveyed by AP are higher.

The numbers combined indicate nationwide meth lab seizures actually rose at least 8.3 percent in 2011 compared to 2010.

The AP polled the states after determining that several had not yet reported full-year data to the DEA.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)

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