FRANKLIN COUNTY, Mo. (KMOX) – After busting 163 meth labs a decade ago, Franklin County investigators are on a pace to bust fewer than 20 this year. But, the head of the county’s Narcotics Enforcement Unit says that doesn’t mean fewer people are using methamphetamine.
Unit commander Sgt. Jason Grellner credits laws requiring prescriptions to purchase medication containing pseudoephedrine and the new medicines that prevent pseudoephedrine from being used to make meth.
However, another reason for the decline in meth lab busts is the increasing availability of high-quality Mexican-made meth.
“That is taking up the slack in the market, if you will, filling the gap that’s left behind by those laboratories,” Grellner says. “We still see a lot of methaphetamine addicts in the area.”
Grellner says the only way to reduce that number is to provide addicts with treatment while they’re incarcerated.
Though there are several reasons for the decline, he says there’s only one way to reduce the demand: “I think while we have those individuals in those facilities, we need to do a better job of rehabilitating people.”
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