Los Angeles is the capital of movie stardom, NYC the capital of money making and Missouri, ahem the capital of making the good shit..

news-leader: Missouri will likely reclaim the dubious distinction this year of being the methamphetamine capital of the United States, according to Missouri Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Ron Replogle.

“We are going to exceed 2,000 (labs) this year,” he said Thursday during a session of the Springfield DWI Task Force.

It’s possible that number will rank Missouri first in meth labs, displacing current top state Kentucky, Replogle said.

2000 labs a year? I wonder how that stacks up to the chart I came across whilst googling the following words: chart of annual meth use?

Chart source:

A cursory regard of the chart which originates in 2003 (unfortunately no more recent charts show up) shows 151 plus meth users for every 100 000 residents in the North East corridor, including states like Oregon, California but if we are to infer anything from the latest data that Missouri is now for the second year in a row hands on winner in the production of the good stuff, one can pretty much reason that the existence of 151 plus meth users per 100 000 residents no longer locates itself solely in the north east, but probably the heartland as well, where the following states intersect: Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois.

But if one really wants to get to the nuts and bolts of why meth production has switched to the heartland here’s some sobering information:

As states have adopted more restrictive rules on purchasing the drug (pseudoephedrine) over the counter, production has shifted from large-scale labs, he said.

Nowadays, meth cooks use what are known as one-bottle labs that can be used in houses, motel rooms or cars to quickly produce the drug, Replogle said.

Which raises the question, how long before other heartland states make similar moves as California and other heartland states like Oklahoma that require doctor prescriptions for the once easily over the counter drug- pseudoephedrine?

As of now, wikipedia shows the following 41 states have laws regarding regulating pseudoephedrine:

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawai’i (as of May 1, 2009) Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana (as of August 15, 2009) Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin have laws requiring pharmacies to sell pseudoephedrine “behind the counter” and to collect personal information from purchasers.

As you can see Missouri is not one of them.

But just in case you think it’s all a matter of simply enacting regulations, here’s a tidbit of information which might explain why getting your hands on pseudoephedrine is likely to remain a fairly straight up proposition:

Replogle said he expects intense opposition from drug company lobbyists to restricting the availability of popular cold medicine.

Past drug company efforts have involved warning people their cold medicines will be taken away, he said.

How ironic, the pharmaceutical industry is willing to do whatever it takes to get you to buy their drugs whilst the underground market will use the skirmish between regulators and the pharmaceutical industry to exact clever ways for you to get the illicit high you keep coming back for. Either way America is becoming a nation addicted to unbridled drug use, legal or not. Have an enjoyable stay in Missouri…

Meth head busted busted making meth inside Walmart.

Does your math professor run a crystal meth lab too?

Shake and Bake- the simple way to make crystal meth.

My Adventures with a Crystal Meth Addict. – Scallywag & Vagabond

And now it”s time to show you a new and improved way of how to smoke crack…