Narcotics Investigators

Detective Kip Aldridge
Detective Jeff Neill

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What is a meth lab?

Meth "recipes" are easy to obtain from other cooks and from the internet. There are hundreds of chemical products and substances that are used interchangeably to produce meth. The substitution of one chemical for another in meth recipes may cause the cooking process to be more hazardous (resulting in fire or explosion) or may result in a finished product with unwanted or dangerous effects.

Many dangerous chemical ingredients are used to make meth. The cooking process causes chemicals and methamphetamine to be deposited on surfaces and household belongings. Also, chemical by-products such as toxic phosphine gas may be formed during meth manufacture. This may occur through planned chemical interaction, or by processing errors, such as increasing cooking temperatures too rapidly.

Every meth "recipe" starts with over-the-counter medications that include pseudoephedrine or ephedrine in their contents. The pills are crushed and mixed with other chemicals in the process of cooking meth. Various meth recipes include combinations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), acids, bases, metals, solvents and salts. Making meth with these chemicals can result in explosions, chemical fires, and the release of toxic gases.

Meth cooking also produces solid and liquid waste that can contaminate a building and its contents, or the groundwater or soil where they are dumped.

What is Methamphetamine (meth)?

Methamphetamine, also known as "speed" or "crank," is a potent central nervous system stimulant. The drug is illegally produced in makeshift labs. The labs are set up at rental homes, apartments, mobile homes, motel rooms, garages, storage sheds, cars, campgrounds and various outbuildings. All of the processes that produce methamphetamine use a variety of chemicals including explosives, solvents, metals, salts, and corrosives. During the drug manufacturing process additional compounds and by-products are produced. Exposure to these chemicals can have various health effects on producers and others that are unintentionally exposed. Typically, after a lab is discovered by law enforcement officials, the bulk of lab-related materials including chemicals and containers are removed. However, small amounts of contaminants can remain on floors, walls, counters, carpets, furniture, sinks, drains and ventilation systems. Exposure to even small amounts of some of these chemicals can pose serious health risks.

Every pound of methamphetamine produced generates five or more pounds of hazardous waste. Much of this waste is dumped down drains and toilets or on the ground, creating many additional contaminated sites. Such dumping has created septic tanks full of dangerous waste and chemically-contaminated drain fields, soils and surface waters.

Methamphetamine affects your brain. In the short term, meth causes mind and mood changes such as anxiety, euphoria, and depression. Long-term effects can include chronic fatigue, paranoid or delusional thinking, and permanent psychological damage.

Methamphetamine affects your body. Over “amping” on any type of speed is pretty risky. Creating a false sense of energy, these drugs push the body faster and further than it's meant to go. It increases the heart rate, blood pressure, and risk of stroke.

Methamphetamine affects your self-control. Meth is a powerfully addictive drug that can cause aggression and violent or psychotic behavior.

Methamphetamine is not what it seems. Even speed drugs are not always safe. Giga-jolts of the well-known stimulants caffeine or ephedrine can cause stroke or cardiac arrest when overused or used by people with a sensitivity to them.

Methamphetamine can kill you. An overdose of meth can result in heart failure. Long-term physical effects such as liver, kidney, and lung damage may also kill you.