Methamphetamine labs not just a rural problem
August 23, 2007
Meth Labs and meth abusers aren’t limited to the back roads of America. This 2006 report on meth labs in TN says that meth labs are becoming an urban trend.
“Meth use and manufacturing, traditionally thought of as rural crimes, are becoming more metropolitan, authorities say. “The trend is more urban,” said Tommy Farmer, a Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department lieutenant and the head of the South/East Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force.
While Tennessee leads the nation in the number of illegal meth-manufacturing labs seized during the first six months of this year, Hamilton County has topped the state with seizures made in the past 18 months, records show. Hamilton and neighboring Marion and Bradley counties since 1999 have tallied about 1,110 lab seizures, nearly 20 percent of the state’s total. Now the task force, which has made 70 percent of all the meth lab seizures in the state since its inception in 1999, is expanding.
“We’re getting ready to make changes,” Lt. Farmer said. “We’ve gotten federal funding to expand the task force statewide.”
Southeast Tennessee has seen a significant increase in Mexican meth-trafficking groups based in Dalton, Ga., according to a statement from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. “These groups control much of the methamphetamine distribution in the Chattanooga area,” the statement reads.” - excerpt from the article Meth Making Goes Metropolitan , PoliceOne. com
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