Meth

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As we can see, the ingredients in the table above could be found in many common household items. Organic compounds such as methylamine, ethyl ether, benzene, methanol, and lithium aluminum hydride are extremely flammable so there is always a great chance for explosion to occur. Many methamphetamine labs in California and Missouri have used the Anhydrous Ammonia method or Shake and Bake method, a one simple step recipe where the yield of meth is around 95% and 10 minutes reaction period and it will need up to about 2 hours for the total time for preparation, production and cleaning up after the process is done (Garriott, 2011). The main ingredients for this production are pseudoephedrine (cold medicine), lithium, water, Coleman fuel, ice packs and an explosive device. Besides that, there are two other methods which are mainly used in methamphetamine production: the phenyl-2-propanone (P2P) method and the red phosphorous (red P) method (Scott & Dedel, 2006). However, Anhydrous Ammonia method is more popular because pseudoepherdrine can be easily obtained in cold medicine and the producing progress is quite simple and quick so this method can be applied in most of small scale clandestine methamphetamine laboratories (Scott & Dedel, 2006).
The Shake and Bake or “one pot” method is made by mixing anhydrous ammonia extracted from fertilizer, pseudoephedrine from cold tablets, water, and Lithium into a 2 little soda bottle. Those chemicals will react with one another to create a crystalline powder which is methamphetamine (Scott & Dedel, 2006). This method is easy and quick but also is extremely dangerous because if oxygen can get into the bottle, it can cause big explosion. It is used mostly in small scale lab where the individuals can...

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...on. They also create significant risks to the public health of people in the surrounding areas because the wastes from meth production are hazardous. Therefore, it requires specialized training, detection and safety precautions which are missing at most clandestine meth labs because the cleanup and disposal step can cost a lot of money. The property may not be able to be properly decontaminated to limit the risks of spreading hazardous odors out in the surrounding areas (Garriott, 2011). The amount of hazardous material wastes produced is six times of the amount of methamphetamine after each production cycle. The manufacturers often dump their wastes in the backyard or open space in the surrounding areas such as river or streams (Scott & Dedel, 2006). By doing that, the ground water in those areas becomes contaminated and it causes serious effects to public health.

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