The number of methamphetamine labs uncovered by Pennsylvania State Police has nearly doubled each year for two years, says the Philadelphia Inquirer. Police are likely to find even more this year. From 2001 to 2003, state police uncovered 117 labs or meth-lab dump sites. In the first three months of this year, police discovered 32 labs, half of 2003’s total. “We’re going to get slammed this year,” said Sgt. Mike Rudda, head of the Pennsylvania State Police Clandestine Lab Response Team.
The Philadelphia region is the origin of a large part of the methamphetamine produced and consumed in the eastern United States, says the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. “A large factor in the clandestine-lab epidemic is the evolution of technology and the increased use of the Internet,” said DEA agent Armand McClintock.
Link: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/8252180.htm