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WV Sees More Smaller Meth Labs
By: WOUB Contributing Writer
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By the time we get to summer, more meth labs will have been seized in West Virginia…than the total for all of last year.
And while they're more numerous, they're getting smaller.
Parkersburg's narcotics task force seized 16 of them since January first, nearly all of them the smaller, or "shake and bake" labs.
Still, the smaller meth-making operations are just as toxic as larger, traditional labs.
"It's very volatile," says Sgt. Greg Collins of the police department. "There is an incendiary element to it, because of the lithium and water and ingredients that are very capable of causing a flash fire, along with other chemicals in the cook."
Last Thursday, the task force was called to remove a mobile meth lab found by a trash hauler in some garbage.
Statewide, law enforcement authorities have seized 200 meth labs this year, nearly approaching the 288 they shuttered in all of 2012.