A new meth recipe along the Gulf Coast is making it easier for addicts to cook up the drug on the sly and with less equipment than required by a traditional lab, according to an undercover narcotics deputy with the Mobile County Sheriff's Office.
The new process, variously referred to as the shake and bake method or the one-pot method, allows cooks to produce the drug in soda bottles, and without heating any of the ingredients, said the deputy, who agreed to speak to the Press-Register but asked that his name be withheld because of his position with the department.
A traditional lab requires much more equipment and several more steps to produce the drug.
The one-pot method has only been on the scene for about eight months, according to the deputy, but has largely displaced larger-scale lab setups.
"We hardly get the old-fashioned labs anymore," he said.
One reason the one-pot method has become so popular, according to the deputy, is that pseudoephedrine pills — an over-the-counter sinus medication — are much harder to come by now that the Sheriff's Office is cracking down on the sale in large quantities or without photo identification.
Without large quantities of the medication, which is the prime ingredient in methamphetamine creation, big lab setups can't function.
The one-pot method isn't less dangerous, though, as the chemicals it requires, as in a traditional lab setup, are highly toxic. There also is a risk of explosion if the bottle isn't vented periodically during the one-hour process to relieve pressure buildup.
The entire process is often carried out in a moving vehicle, according to the deputy.
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New method to cook meth is replacing traditional labs along Gulf Coast
Re: New method to cook meth is replacing traditional labs along Gulf Coast
