U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Pushing Back Against Meth: A Progress Report on the Fight Against Methamphetamine in the United States

NCJ Number
216528
Date Published
November 2006
Length
56 pages
Annotation
This report highlights the progress made across all 50 States in the United States through the passage and implementation of laws, laboratory incident seizures, and positive workplace tests for amphetamines in reducing methamphetamine production in 2005.
Abstract
By early 2006, more than 40 States had implemented some type of new restriction on retail transactions involving products containing certain chemicals that could be used to make methamphetamine. In 2006, the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act (CMEA) went into effect. In 2005, there was observed in the United States, a nationwide drop in methamphetamine laboratory incidents. In 2004, there were approximately 17,750 methamphetamine laboratory incident seizures by law enforcement in the United States. In 2005, this number was 12,500, a decline of more than 30 percent. Early 2006 data suggest the decline is continuing. The primary reason for this downhill trend is the enactment of various State laws, which started in Oklahoma in 2004. The CMEA set a nationwide baseline standard for how to legally sell these products, which include some popular over-the-counter (OTC) cold medications. In some States, enactment of the CMEA was followed by a swift and sudden decline in methamphetamine laboratory incidents, sometimes as much as 75 percent or more. However, in some States the decline was less dramatic. This State-by-State annual report examines progress made on the fight against methamphetamine in the United States for 2005. Figures and tables