METH MAKING ARRESTS ARE PLUMMETING

(07/06/2015)

Methamphetamine lab seizures are down 20 percent in West Virginia compared to the first six months of 2014, with 123 seizures this year. Delegate Don Perdue says the decline is due in part to many retail pharmacies no longer selling cold and allergy medications that have pseudoephedrine as their primary ingredient. Pseudoephedrine is used to illegally manufacture meth. Meth has been considered to be the poor persons drug of choice. The shift is to other drugs, such as prescription medication and heroin. Figures from the tracking system NPLex show pharmacies have sold 141,000 boxes of medications containing pseudoephedrine so far this year, with a total of 303,000 boxes sold in 2014. Pseudoephedrine sales peaked at 431,000 boxes in 2013. A number of mainstream drug stores have quit selling the drug. Still, West Virginia is leading the nation by far in drug overdose deaths, many of the drugs being sold by so-called "pill mills."

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