Shut Down The Lab, Cold Medicine Sales Restricted

By Sam Bakken in News on Dec 16, 2004 1:49AM

If you plan on baking a big batch of meth to ease your crippling cocaine cravings this winter (or at least until the Mexican Drug Trafficking Federation is up and running again in Chicago) you'd better get to it before New Year's Day.

Thanks to the ultimate buzz-killer Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, starting January 1, 2005 pharmacies will be keeping your key ingredient in locked cases or behind the counter. You'll also only be allowed to buy two packages at a time and it's illegal for them to sell to you if they think you're a meth chef.

Since we took a cooking class at Tweaker Tim's apartment and some of you may not be schooled in the ways of the meth wizards, we'll break it down for you right quick. Meth can be made from all legal ingredients, the key ingredient being the ephedrine or pseudoephedrine found in many adult-strength over-the-counter cold medicines. Here's a recipe.

Apparently, a number of meth producers ran their labs in southern rural Illinois where it's easier to keep them hidden and they're less likely to arouse suspicion with the smell. Downstate, pharmacies complied with requests by a number of counties to limit their sales of cold medicine. As a result, meth makers made runs to Chicago to stock up. Madigan noticed the trend and introduced the law to put a stop to it.