State officials are ramping up efforts to alert Iowans about the increasingly popular “one pot” method of making methamphetamine. The “one pot” or “shake and bake” method of cooking meth usually involves a plastic two liter pop bottle and ammonium nitrate found in products such as fertilizer stakes or instant cold packs.
The Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy has released a poster highlighting those items – hoping Iowans will report suspicious activity. Dale Woolery is a spokesperson for the office. “If they spot suspicious activity involving some of these materials in the poster, we’d like for them to – first of all – stay away and stay safe. Second, we’d like for them to contact law enforcement about those activities,” Woolery said.
Meth cooks are moving to the one pot method because the illegal drug can be produced in a small space, such as an apartment, without the strong odors associated with bigger operations. Woolery says law enforcement in Iowa had just one report of a one pot meth lab in all of 2009. That increased to 56 last year. Police have encountered 29 of the one pot labs already this year.
Although one pot labs are smaller and use different materials, they can be just as dangerous as the traditional meth lab. “The (one pot labs) are more prone to lead to flash fires, which can be very dangerous – especially if you’re in an apartment building, for instance,” Woolery said.
View the poster: One Pot Meth Poster
Listen to Pat Curtis’ report: Curtis Report :47