If you’re buying instant cold packs in Indiana to make meth and think no one will suspect what you’re doing, think again. A Gibson County Prosecutor, who is concerned about “shake and bake” meth labs, has asked retail store owners to help deter meth lab cooks from buying the cold 
packs in his county. He wants retailers to manage the sale of instant cold packs, the way they manage the sale of pseudoephedrine – minus the ID and log book. All cold packs would be stored behind store counters, giving retail store clerks a better idea of who is buying them and how often they’re buying them.
Gibson County Prosecutor Rob Krieg says the cold packs contain ammonium nitrate, an ingredient used in “shake and bake” meth labs, which are wreaking havoc across the country. “Shake and bake” labs, also known as portable meth labs, mobile meth labs, or box labs, allow meth makers to manufacture meth in a space as small as a 2 liter soda bottle. The lab doesn’t produce a smell like the kitchen labs used to do, but the risk of injury and death is the same. As the meth cooks in the bottle, gasses in the bottle build up pressure, pressure that has to be released at exactly the right time. “Shake and bake” labs are disasters waiting to happen.
Source:
“Prosecutor: Meth makers now use instant cold packs”, Chicago Tribune, article by the Associated Press, 8/22/09, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-in-meth-coldpacks,0,5294718.story?obref=obinsite, accessed 9/3/09
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Ex-methmonster
Here’s a novel idea,Since the Govt. has deemed pseudoephedrine a dangerous chemical,enough to put a mandatory control or limit on it.
Why not make it a prescription only drug? the current laws have cut the ma & pa manufactering method by at least in 1/2, why not stop it completely? Require a prescription like other controlled substances.
It’s quite appearent the Govt doesn’t want to stop meth but control it.
I have researched this drug both as an addict & now 3yrs clean.Seems to me if the Govt has the knowledge to stop a crime but continue to allow it to happen they are as guilty as those they continue to prosicute for meth crimes, such as meth conspiracies,precursor possession.
Pseudoeohedrine is the only precursor in the meth making process that cannot be substituted.
This makes most of the states charges, nothing but pure fabrications,there are no guidelines to prosicution in the state of Ill, there are people doing sentences ranging from 25yrs to 2 yrs probation most 1st time offenders, most just for aquiring cold pills to trade for a finished product.
Also in this state law enforcement have no interest in stopping the actual “cook in progress” because they incurre the costly cleanup.So with that being said the way it is here is,like a viscious cycle.Small groups of people aquire the legal amont of pills,pool them together & share the dope,while teaching others the insane process.The authorities simply collect pseudo records from local pharmacies,aquire probable cause warrants make arrest’s while the cycle continues.
All of the above chaos could be stopped directly at the pharmacy counters. You can never stop meth or any other illegal drugs,but as far as the meth epidimic’s the home grown way we see it, it can be stopped,with alot easier efforts than costantly making arrest’s and overcrowding our prisons and jails.Once again STOP it at the Pharmacy counter.As Barney Fife says “nip it in the bud”
Thank you from a grateful recovering meth addict.
I know Why
They would have to ban All the ephedrine products (it can be used interchangeably with Pseudo-ephedrine), the main weight loss supplement ingredients mostly are derived from ephedra,
Igotone
Ex-methmonster has hit the nail on the head, only he didn’t take it quite far enough.
What is really happening is the US government is running the heavyweight meth traffic in this and other countries and they hate competition.
Remember Ollie North and the Iran-Contra scandal back in the Reagan years? Nothing has changed-the’gubmint’ is still the main dope dealer in this country.
You don’t have to believe me-do your own research with just a bit of open-mindedness…
They can allow for some minor players to make a few bucks and furnish some easy-to-bust patsies whenever they need to make a “War on drugs succeeding!” headline for the propaganda value.
In fact, if they truly clamped down on PE and made it, say, a schedule II drug, the question would eventually arise as to WHERE is all the meth coming from, since obviously the backyard cooks can’t be providing it all…and someone might actually dig into the murk and start doing some investigative reporting of stories akin to those on Iran-Contra. We can’t be having those sorts of irregularities now, can we?