Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: News

Pharmacists such as Kirksville resident Lisa Deyoung are required to keep all products containing pseudoephedrine, necessary for the production of methamphetamine, behind the counter. Recent numbers indicate that Missouri stands at No. 1 in the nation in meth incidents.

The numbers are both up and down as far as methamphetamine is concerned.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol released the latest state and county totals for meth incidents. Missouri is No. 1 in the nation with 1,285 total incidents, but the figures for Adair County are down to just one from a high of 60 in 2003.

Sergeant Brent Bernhardt, public information and education officer for the Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop B, said the top five Missouri counties for meth production are Jefferson, St. Charles, St. Francis, Lincoln and Franklin, all of which are near the St. Louis area.

"Typically, your bigger cities such as [the] St. Louis area ... [and] Kansas City, those have been the biggest areas where [the] methamphetamine problem has existed, but the rural areas are affected, too," he said.

Bernhardt said big cities usually have the most problems simply because of the higher population density.

"However, ... in virtually every county there's a drug problem in the fact that if you've got one person that's abusing drugs, that's a problem," he said. "It's kind of like the old analogy - one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel. One person can influence someone else to do [drugs]."

Bernhardt said law enforcement agencies always are on guard against drugs, but they also need support from the community.

"It's not just a law enforcement problem, it's a community problem, and we all need to get involved with that," he said.

Bernhardt said that overall, meth incident totals in Missouri have dropped substantially during the past five years because of recent state laws regulating the purchase of pseudoephedrine - a key item

Please see METH, Page 7

Continued from Page 1

for making meth. As of 2005, all pharmacies are required to keep a record of who buys pseudoephedrine and when and how often they buy it.

Continued...

Page 1 of 3 next >

Article Tools