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What is a meth lab?
How do I recognize a meth lab?
What do I do if I find a meth lab?
Methamphetamine is often made in clandestine labs (also called clan labs or meth labs) in a variety of locations, such as houses, apartments, motels, vehicles, wooded areas or other buildings. Methamphetamine is made (or 'cooked') from common, easily-available materials, using one of several basic chemical processes.
Meth "recipes" are easy to obtain from other cooks and from the internet. There are hundreds of chemical products and substances that are used interchangeably to produce meth. The substitution of one chemical for another in meth recipes may cause the cooking process to be more hazardous (resulting in fire or explosion) or may result in a finished product with unwanted or dangerous effects.
Different meth recipes also result in finished products with different colors, making meth difficult to describe. Most meth made in Minnesota is made using the anhydrous ammonia meth. The drug made in these labs typically ranges in color from white to light brown. Methamphetamine imported to Minnesota from other states is most often some shade of pink. Crystal meth, commonly called, "ice," "glass" or "crystal" looks like clear chunks of crystal or ice.
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Every meth "recipe" starts with over-the-counter medications that include pseudoephedrine or ephedrine in their contents. The pills are crushed and mixed with other chemicals in the process of cooking meth. Various meth recipes include combinations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), acids, bases, metals, solvents and salts. Making meth with these chemicals can result in explosions, chemical fires and the release of toxic gases.
Meth cooking also produces solid and liquid wastes that can contaminate a building and its contents, or the groundwater or soil where they are dumped.
How do I recognize a meth lab?
Clues that may indicate illegal production or sales of drugs include the following:
- Access denied to landlords, neighbors, and other visitors
- "Cooks" have no visible means of support but make cash purchases and payments
- Covering or blacking-out of windows
- Other security measures such as cameras or baby monitors outside of buildings
- Unusual traffic and activities, such as excessive night traffic or purchases taking place
- Burn pits, stained soil or dead vegetation indicating dumping of chemicals or waste
- Waste in trash, pits or piles, such as:
- Packaging from over-the-counter ephedrine or pseudoephedrine cold, diet or allergy pills
- Empty containers from: antifreeze, white gas, ether, starting fluids, Freon, lye or drain openers, paint thinner, acetone, or alcohol
- Compressed gas cylinders, or camp stove (Coleman) fuel containers
- Packaging from Epsom salts or rock salt
- Anhydrous ammonia tanks; propane tanks or coolers containing anhydrous ammonia
- Pyrex/glass/Corning containers, with dried chemical deposits remaining
- Bottles or containers connected with rubber hosing and duct tape
- Coolers, thermos bottles, or other cold storage containers
- Respiratory masks and filters or dust masks
- Funnels, hosing and clamps
- Coffee filters, pillow cases or bed sheets stained red (used to filter red phosphorous), or containing a white powdery residue
- Apartments or buildings that smell like chemicals, including sweet, bitter, ammonia or solvent smells.
Meth Lab Resources
Neighborhood Resource Guide (PDF)
Minnesota National Guard Counterdrug Program brochure on Methamphetamine Labs. Copyright www.streetdrugs.org.
Methamphetamine Brochure (PDF)
Blue Earth County Sheriff's Department brochure used to educate about meth, how to spot a meth lab and what to do if you find a meth lab.
What to do if you find a meth lab
In Blue Earth County, meth labs have been found in homes, vehicles, motel rooms, farm buildings, secluded wooded sites and storage buildings in or near the following communities:
- Rapidan
- Good Thunder
- Garden City
- Mapleton
- Eagle Lake
- Vernon Center
- St. Clair
- Madison Lake
- Mankato
- Pemberton
- Lake Crystal
An individual who believes he or she has discovered an illegal drug lab or the site of an abandoned lab should immediately notify local law enforcement (Dial 911) and should not enter the area of the suspected lab. Anyone who inadvertently enters a lab should back out immediately without disturbing the cooking process, chemicals or equipment.
Information provided by the Minnesota Department of Health.
