Michigan meth heads are taking over the state at an alarming rate, according to law enforcement officials. Reports indicate that the state’s methamphetamine epidemic has become unhinged and is now flying off the rails at its highest rate of destruction since the drug hit the mainstream.

There have been over 1,500 meth labs and dump sites found across the state since 2013, with 861 discovered last year alone. Michigan police describe the state’s meth problem as “a real nightmare” that continues to tax public safety budgets.

While production of this drug used to take some chemistry experience to manufacture, the process has been dumb down in recent years with the emergence of the one-pot meth lab. Now, the drug can be manufactured by almost anyone with a few common household products and the ability to shake a two-liter bottle.

It extremely common to find the makings of these single production speed labs dumped all across the state, which costs Michigan in upwards of $2,500 to cleanup each time one is found.

However, at the beginning of 2015, a new law went into effect that limits the amount of pseudoephedrine-based cold medicine, a primary ingredient of some forms of meth, that a person can buy within a certain amount of time. The hope is that by placing purchase limits on this product, it will diminish the production of this dangerous drug and hinder its distribution.

But that is not likely how the scenario will play out. Instead, criminal minds will invent clever methods for getting their hands on the ingredients they need, or they will simply revert back to ripping off anhydrous tanks in the middle of cornfields. Either way, the likelihood of meth production dropping off to the point that it makes much of a difference is not favorable. The drug has become the cash crop of the Midwest…like it or not.

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