Missouri continues to hold the number one spot meth addiction and meth labs in the country, and has done so for the last decade. Arguably Tennessee may have been on contention for the top spot this year, but all the numbers are not in. Regardless, Missouri meth labs have risen despite attempts to curb addiction through stricter laws, and laws prohibiting or placing restrictions on the sale of products that contain ingredients needed for its manufacture. Meth treatment admissions to Missouri drug rehabs have risen steadily since the early nineties, reaching its peak in 2005 at over 6,000.

There were 4,375 admissions for meth addiction through November of 2010. Compare this to 1993 and less than 200. Currently Missouri spends $8.3 million dollars on methamphetamine addiction treatment in its state funded programs, not including the tens of millions dollars on the fall out. A very informative article written by Jason J Grellner of St Louis Today – The Truth about Pseudoephedrine – points out the devastating costs to Missouri and millions of dollars lost each year.

According to the article:

• 30 percent of burn-unit beds regionally are occupied by uninsured meth lab burn victims. Each costs approximately $6,000 in treatment per day; stays of up to six months are common. Doctors say unpaid bills, coupled with the labor-intensive care needed to nurse meth-burn victims, are straining their resources.

• $17.6 million is spent annually on meth-related offenses for incarceration and supervision in Missouri.

• State and local agencies spend $2.1 million a year for for meth lab cleanups.

• $8.3 million is spent annually by the Missouri Department of Mental Health budget for treatment of meth addicts.

• The total cost of providing custodial care to children exposed to meth labs in Missouri since August 2005 was approximately $3.4 million, based on a child remaining in state care for 369 days.

• From January 2008 to December 2010, 469 newborns in Missouri were identified as having been exposed to meth: 119 in 2008, 163 in 2009 and 187 in 2010.

• More than 20,000 meth lab sites have been found in Missouri, resulting in the removal of more than 522,000 pounds of hazardous waste.

• All pseudoephedrine is manufactured outside the United States. The importation of pseudoephedrine has nearly doubled since 2005 (from 382,000 kilograms in 2005 to 650,000 kilograms in 2010).

• A 2007 RAND Corp. study estimated that methamphetamine had cost U.S. taxpayers $23.4 billion dollars for just one year (2005).

Requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine is nothing new; it is merely returning it to its former status. In 1976, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration warned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of the possibility of methamphetamine labs if pseudoephedrine became an over-the-counter product. By 1993, labs were being discovered all over Missouri, the Midwest and the western United States. Since then, two states and 30 Missouri cities have returned to requiring a prescription for the purchase of pseudoephedrine — with astounding results:

Effective July 1, 2006, Oregon returned pseudoephedrine to a prescription drug. Since then, Oregon has experienced the following:

• 96 percent reduction in meth lab incidents.

• 32 percent reduction in meth arrests.

• 33 percent reduction in meth treatment admissions.

• 35 percent reduction in meth-related emergency room visits.

Effective July 1, 2010, Mississippi returned pseudoephedrine to prescription-drug status. Mississippi already has experienced the following:

• 68 percent reduction in meth lab incidents.

• 62 percent reduction in meth arrests.

• 76 percent reduction in children removed from meth lab sites.

• A nearly 70 percent reduction in meth-related cases.

There has been no public outcry in either state, no marked increase in health care costs, and no one has died from a stuffy nose. Requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine is an inconvenience, but meth labs are a deadly plague killing people, destroying the environment and strangling the state and the federal budgets.

Missouri has taken many avenues in its meth lab battle by passing a series of increasingly stringent laws to control the sale of pseudoephedrine medicines. Regrettably for those that legitimately use allergy and asthma drugs that contain pseudoephedrine the state has mandated these drugs be moved behind the pharmacy counter, limited the quantities people can buy and required photo identification to purchase them. But with the costs to their pocketbooks and other areas it’s a rather small price to pay.

With Tennessee and Missouri ranking at the top nationally in meth lab incidents last year, you wouldn’t think someone would have the audacity to stand in the way of progressive steps towards ending the madness, but yet again, Big Pharma rears its ugly head. An advocacy group supporting pharmaceutical companies has started an ad campaign against a Missouri proposal requiring a doctor’s prescription to buy certain cold medicines that can be used to make the illegal drug methamphetamine. This group claims there are consumers who oppose placing restrictions on these much needed drugs…..Hmmm Let me think who those consumers might be? What kind of lifestyle do they lead? And how much money do they stand to lose? These “consumers” are more than likely stockholders or meth manufacturers.

Meth addiction is almost instantaneous and over 95% percent of those that try it will do so again. Most of the drugs rehabs in Missouri are short term and unfortunately and experience very high recidivism rates. The toxic effects of methamphetamine are not short-lived and remain an influence on the addicted individual for months, sometimes years which negatively influence thoughts, emotions and behaviors.Overcoming a meth addiction can take several months of rehab. No one knows how long it really takes rehabilitate an addict and how much time varies with each individual and the circumstance surrounding the addiction. Success in rehabilitation and length of treatment depends on the drug habit and severity of addiction.