New Oklahoma Meth Formula Catching On Across The Country

Associated Press

TULSA, OK -- There is a new formula for methamphetamine: a two-liter soda bottle, a few handfuls of cold pills and some noxious chemicals.

Shake the bottle and the volatile reaction produces one of the world's most addictive drugs.

Meth once required an elaborate lab that produced foul odors that was hard to hide.

Now drug users are making their own meth in small batches using a faster, cheaper and much simpler method with ingredients that can be carried in a knapsack and mixed on the run.

The News On 6 first reported on this new process back in March.

3/11/2009 Related story: New Way Of Making Meth In Oklahoma

The "shake-and-bake" approach has become popular because it requires a relatively small amount of pseudoephedrine. The amount is easily obtained under even the toughest anti-meth laws that have been adopted across the nation to restrict large purchases of some cold medication.

One little mistake -- like unscrewing the bottle cap too fast -- can result in a huge blast.

Police in Oklahoma, Alabama and other states have linked dozens of flash fires this year -- some of them fatal -- to meth manufacturing.

Data from the Justice Department and the DEA data suggest the method could only be in its early stages. The "shake-and-bake" labs have recently been discovered as far north as Indiana and as far east as West Virginia.