Pseudoephedrine Sales and Seizures of Clandestine Methamphetamine Laboratories in Kentucky

The advent of a new pseudoephedrine product to combat methamphetamine abuse

BACKGROUND The personal and societal effects of methamphetamine abuse are well documented. The ease of accessibility to methamphetamine and the quality of the "high" it produces makes the drug highly desired by its abusers. Over time, many methamphetamine users will also become methamphetamine cooks, where pseudoephedrine in over-the-counter cold products is converted to methamphetamine through...

Chemical hazards related to clandestine drug laboratories.

The number of clandestine drug laboratories in the United States and Europe has increased as a result of the rising popularity of methamphetamine, Ecstasy, and gamma-hydroxybutyrate among young people and drug abusers, and a shift from complex production procedures for these drugs to simpler "cold cook" methods involving household chemicals. Fires, explosions, corrosive chemicals, and toxic sub...

Acute and chronic environmental effects of clandestine methamphetamine waste.

The illicit manufacture of methamphetamine (MAP) produces substantial amounts of hazardous waste that is dumped illegally. This study presents the first environmental evaluation of waste produced from illicit MAP manufacture. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) was measured to assess immediate oxygen depletion effects. A mixture of five waste components (10mg/L/chemical) was found to have a COD (130 m...

enHealth Guidance on: Clandestine Drug Laboratories and Public Health Risks

Assessment of Children’s Exposure to Surface Methamphetamine Residues in Former Clandestine Methamphetamine Labs, and Identification of a Risk-based Cleanup Standard for Surface Methamphetamine Contamination

Introduction The Natural History of a Clandestine Methamphetamine Lab From its initial establishment through its ultimate re-occupancy, a clandestine methamphetamine lab goes through four phases that vary with the nature of operations, the chemicals present, the exposure pathways, and the potentially exposed populations. The four phases may generally be described as Operational: clandestine met...