Meth labs manufactured in DeKalb County could reach an all-time high by the end of the month, drug task force officials say.
Since methamphetamine spiked in 2003 with 120 labs seized, the DeKalb County drug task force hasn’t had as many meth busts until this year, Darrell Collins, the drug task force’s director, said.
So far this year the task force has busted 105 labs, Collins said.
The one-pot cook method is the reason for the increase, he said.
“It’s easier to manufacture that way,” he said. “We call it the one-pot method. Tennessee calls it shake and bake. It’s the same thing.”
Several rural areas have been targeted as strategic places to manufacture meth, and one of those places is along Lookout Mountain near Collinsville where police found 41 one-pot meth labs on Sept. 9, he said.
Once the meth cooks finished making the drug, they dumped the equipment, Sheriff Jimmy Harris said in a news release.
Each lab produced about $27,000 worth of meth, or about 3 grams of the drug, he said.
Police have had problems with the area before, because the area is rural, which makes it easy to hide, Collins said. Agents found at least 28 one-pot labs in the same area last year, he said.
“But we’re making measures to stop it,” he said, declining to give details about officers’ investigations.
The 9th Judicial Circuit, which represents DeKalb and Cherokee counties, prosecutes hundreds of meth cases every year, said Scott Lloyd, a deputy district attorney.
The police have the option if they want to try to prosecute a case locally or federally and if the U.S. District Attorney’s office declines to take a case the local DA can still prosecute it, Lloyd said.
Collins said if the case meets the federal criteria, the task force will try to get federal charges because the minimum time to serve in jail is longer.
Contact Joy Lukachick at jlukachick@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659.