The number of meth labs found by Indiana police increased by a third last year, reports the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. The state police's haul of 1,059 meth labs is the second-highest annual total in the agency's history. The state police's Fort Wayne district found the most labs in the state, more than double the previous year's total. Noble County – historically one of the most active counties for meth production – led the state with 80 labs discovered.
Widespread methamphetamine use flooded into northeast Indiana nearly a decade ago, when it was most often created in a complicated science project. Mom-and-pop laboratories – usually run by users of the drug – “cooked” meth with the highly toxic farming fertilizer anhydrous ammonia, which usually had to be stolen. Farmers and co-ops tightened their security to protect their supplies of anhydrous ammonia. And in 2005, Indiana's Methamphetamine Protection Act went into effect, restricting the sale of another key ingredient, pseudoephedrine. Addicts get around that with a new method, called “one-pot cooking.”