Meth Labs Decline In Oklahoma, Meth Addiction Still A Problem

A meth offender registry and an online system that tracks pseudoephedrine are helping fight against meth production. However, while meth labs are down, meth addiction is not.

Thursday, July 9th 2015, 6:39 pm

By: News 9


The number of meth labs in Oklahoma has dropped dramatically.

A meth offender registry and an online system that tracks pseudoephedrine are helping fight against meth production. However, while meth labs are down, meth addiction is not.

Thrifty Pharmacy was the first in Oklahoma City to use the pseudoephedrine tracking system. When someone tries to buy pseudoephedrine, they have to get approved through the online system first.

“It's such a cheap product that you can turn into such a dangerous thing and it's very scary,” said Dani Lynch with Thrifty Pharmacy.

Pseudoephedrine is used to make meth, so Oklahoma is now one of 31 states that use the National Precursor Log Exchange. It tracks pseudoephedrine purchases in real time and blocks purchases at the cash register if someone tries to buy too many grams of it in one day or too much in one month.

“At first, people that I had known for 20 years and here all of a sudden I am wanting their ID,” Lynch said. “They're going, ‘What are you talking about,’ but now they are used to it.”

From January 1, 2015, to May 31, 2015, the system blocked the sale of 23,697 boxes of pseudoephedrine in Oklahoma. That kept nearly 60,000 grams from being purchased illegally. 

Overall, Oklahoma has seen a drop in meth labs of 79 percent, however, meth use is actually up.

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN) said meth users are now buying Mexican meth on the streets rather than trying to make it at home themselves.

Lynch said sometimes the people rejected for pseudoephedrine really need it, like families who have several sick children at home.

“You just hate to regulate people to death, but you have to,” Lynch told News 9.

Aside from the pseudoephedrine tracking system, Oklahoma has also added 19,000 known meth offenders to a meth registry to help cut down on meth labs.

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