Missouri tops in known meth labs

AP story in The Star today:

• WASHINGTON — Some states with significant methamphetamine problems have not received their share of federal money because lawmakers have directed most of a grant program to favored projects in their districts.
• Missouri was cited Thursday by the Justice Department’s inspector general as one example of a shortchanged state. Missouri ranked second, behind California, in seizing 11,859 meth labs between 1998 and 2004. But it was 10th in grants received, with $3.7 million. Texas and Illinois were 10th and 11th in the number of labs seized, but 23rd and 25th, respectively, in money from the meth initiative.

Well. If you figure the number of known meth labs in each state by the number of actual households, Missouri leaves the rest of the country - including California - behind:

Department of Justice Inspector General final report on meth lab seizures and grants 1998-2004 (105-page PDF)

Comments

[borderline]

I agree with whoever pointed out that it probably means that law enforcement in MO is doing a good job of finding the meth labs. For those trying to turn it into an issue of black vs. white, how sad...we're Americans, remember that. It was like listening to those who tried to turn the hurricane into a racist issue. C'mon, we should be past that...whether we are or not (obviously not), we should be. As for the statistics being absolutely unquestionable, they're probably as questionable as all of the testing involved in No Child Left Behind. I have a hard time believing any statistics without questioning them.

[dmm]

What I love most about this discussion and race discussions in general is that when we talk about blacks, hispanics, or any other minority; we speak of them as an entire group. However, when the spotlight is on whites, it's not whites as one group, but a subsect called "white trash". It seems that a lot of white people are pretty fickle, they even stereotype and discriminate against their own race just so they can feel good about themselves. These people need to get off their moral high horse and stop drinking the superiority kool-aid.

[BIGE]

SO IF WE ARE GOING TO CALL BLACK PEOPLE WHITE AND WHITE PEOPLE BLACK,,,,, CAN I QUIT MY JOB AND COLLECT A WELFARE CHECK?

Yes, and once you receive your check can you purchase a wallet or purse depending on your gender so everyone doesn't have to see you put your food stamp card in your back pocket. These people never have IDENTIFICATION but they always have the red and blue card, or babys mamas card!

I agree, Meth does not discriminate, but look at the majority of who uses it!!!! WHITE PEOPLE!!! and mainly people in Independence, it is the capital of white trash!! I know everywhere you go there are good/bad parts of town, but when some one mentions independence, i automatically think "meth, coked out city". that's bad!

You must live in KC. Thats what I think about the inner city. Cooked out crack heads. I guess everyone thinks alike.

Why are stupid people so good at reproducing?

because tweakers watch a bunch of porn!

We should find a way to make crack and meth cause sterility. That would be awesome!

"SO IF WE ARE GOING TO CALL BLACK PEOPLE WHITE AND WHITE PEOPLE BLACK,,,,, CAN I QUIT MY JOB AND COLLECT A WELFARE CHECK?"

This was good!! Really Good! and true! First things first, use the check to buy a pre pay cell phone, bag of weed, 40 of OE, and a Sony Play Station.

As you can see, most of these posts on this blog are posted during normal business hours. The majority of people posting on here are sitting at their desk jockey job pushing a pen and shuffling paper. How boring. They don't know what its like to have a real job dealing with reality. If I was a boss, business owner, manager, foreman, supervisor etc. I think I would start monitoring my employees internet usage. These people must not have enough to keep them busy!!

THIS IS THE LAST PARAGRAPH IN JEFF'S POST.

"Until the day we all decide to work together for the common good we will live in a nation that is "dirty". There are to many damn people that just feel so damn bad because everything is pointed towards them. Its the "everybody picks on me" syndrome."

I NEED A HUG AFTER READING THIS CRAP! ITS NOT A "DIRTY" NATION. IT'S REALITY IDIOT! IT'S NOT GOING TO CHANGE. THERE ARE TOO MANY RIGHT WING LIBERALS. DO YOU THINK IRAQ WILL CHANGE TO DEMOCRACY? NO! NO!NO! IF YOU BELIEVE THIS NATION WILL CHANGE ITS VIEWS OF RACE RELATIONS YOU ARE MISTAKEN.

"so why dont the police just start stopping those people that fit the profile...."

ANOTHER GREAT QUOTE FROM JEFF! WE SHOULD HAVE JUST STARTED HERE SO WE WOULDN'T HAVE TO GO ANY FARTHER. THIS PRETTY MUCH SAYS IT ALL ABOUT JEFF. DUNCE, IDIOT, FOOL, STUPID. THIS IS A GUY THAT HAS A MONDAY-FRIDAY JOB SHARPENING PENCILS. TO BAD HE CAN'T STUFF HIS HEAD IN THE PENCIL SHARPENER. STOP THOSE PEOPLE THAT FIT THE PROFILE. GEE I THINK THAT WOULD BE A VIOLATION OF SOMEONES 4 ADMENDMENT RIGHTS AND DEPARTMENT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.

TO THE KC STAR AND GREG REEVES. PLEASE REMOVE THIS CRIME SCENE BLOG SO PEOPLE STOP MAKING FOOLS OF THEMSELVES. THIS THING HAS TO GO! PLEASE

ST. PATS '07

Dude, I think your caps lock key got stuck.

[Fredw]

That is why I live in Johnson County. It is the best place to live.

"Dude, I think your caps lock key got stuck."

Go smoke another joint! Contribute something worth while or stay off this site. Continue surfing "High Times".

[KC Bill]

Once again, in response to the "excellent" Frontline piece on meth, may I suggest:

http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3220/7368/

yeah smoke one for me to!!!

[CO]

Wow! I'm appalled by some of the comments on this board. I am an Emergency Medical Technician from the Northern Mid-West who just moved to MO. While I can say I am glad I did not move to the Independence area, I can also tell you that you are blind if you think that this is the only area with meth or drug related problems. I came to MO from a town of 300+ people, no not 300,000, THREE HUNDRED! Even in such a small town we as EMTs dealt with numerous drug and alcohol related incidents.

Drugs and alcohol do not discriminate by age, race, sex, financial status or anything else. The meth issue in Independence may be predominately amoung the white but as with all drugs it's only a matter of time before the problem will spread to other areas, races, ages, and etc.

The only known ways to stop the problem is through community education on the effects of drugs, community efferts to shut down dealers, cookers, suppliers, users and supporters. Up where I'm from we have law enforcement come in and speak at our high schools & community meetings. We have also had a 17 year old student & ex-meth user come in and speak at these meetings, it's scary, but it's reality. No matter what some people are still going to use drugs, but even if we can keep ONE person from ever trying a drug, we've succeeded.

Emergency Services have enough to worry about when responding to calls, now on top of it we have to wonder if there may be a meth lab in a basement, bathroom, bedroom or even a trunk of a car just involved in an accident that may be a time-bomb waiting to explode and contaminate or kill us or innocent bystanders.

I urge everyone to take a stand, white or black, young or old, male or female. The only way to clean this problem up is as a team/community. Pointing fingers and placing blame does nothing to fix the problem.

For those of you wondering, I am white & when it comes to life I don't care what color your skin is or your financial status. I have been trained to save lives and I will do so voluntarily anywhere, any time, any age, any race, any place every life is worth saving.

Stand as one & we will overcome any obstacle including drugs & voilence.

i am just gonna whine and say i am owed the world because my ancestors suffered: you dont see jews asking for hand outs, indentured servents turned in to slaves etc. get a grip stop riding on great great great great great grannys suffering get a job, education and a life. crack is just easier to make than meth so the uneducated lazy whiners do it more

[KC Bill]

CO,

Do you really want to find out how to deal with, and better yet, end the death, destruction and violence created by meth and other illegal drugs? If so, then please attend the gathering at UMKC on April 2, 1:00PM Haag Hall, Room 301.

Compare alcohol to any illegal drug out there today. When alcohol was illegal (aka: prohibition), crime and corruption was rampant. When prohibition ended, so did the violence and corruption associated with illegal alcohol production and distribution.

Are there problems created by alcohol today? Yes there are. But they were far worse with Al Capone and other criminals were controling the production and violent distribution of this product.

What situation do we have today with illegal drugs? Violent cartels killing innocent bystanders, violent local dealers killing innocent bystanders. Meth labs poisoning our environmnet and once again, innocent bystanders. All because the meth (and other drugs) are illegal. If they were legal and regulated, there would not be the cartels, the local street dealers and the toxic dumps created by the meth production.

You said it yourself "No matter what some people are still going to use drugs..." So instead of using our financial resources to jail people that want to put various substances into their bodies, (substances such as meth, pot, alcohol, nicotine, Ding Dongs, quarter pound cheese burgers, Pepsi and other harmful foods), why don't we as a society legalize and regulate the production and distrubtion of these substances and educate society about the harms caused by their use?

But wait, we do EXACTLY that with alcohol, nicotine, Ding Dongs, quarter pound cheese burgers, Pepsi and other harmful foods!

Legalizing drugs sounds counter intuitive, but it will immediately stop the violence, it will immediately get illegal drugs out of the hands of those that sell to our children, it will immediately shut down the toxic dumps and it will immediately make yours and my neighborhoods safer.

Why does everything in this town always lead to race? As a KC transplant i've got to say you're really an embarrassment to this city. KC is a very racist city. It's sad..almost pathetic.

[kjj]

lets just say that these "white trashy" ppl pay taxes so you can buy your crack! drugs dont discriminateso cut that bs, im sure if you walk the streets u will see all types involved in meth

To KC Bill,

If Kansas City is an embarrasment then tranplant somewhere your happy. Don't let the door hit you in the a$% on the way out. See ya!

Tweaker

[tgd]

MO is #1 (finally!) and KS is #3.

That means the KCMO area is the national leader in trailer trash.

We must be #1 in mullets too.

[TGD]

KC Bill.

I am also a transplant. KC is incredibly racist. It has to be 25 years behind the coasts and the major cities in racial relations.

The blacks in KC mouth the rhetoric of the '60s as an excuse for the vile behavior of their own and the whites are very bigoted.

The educated whites remind me of the '70s. They mouth the words of inclusion and equaality but they don't interact with other racial groups unless they are forced to do so.

i can't believe what i'm seeing. it is sad that everybody on this website is stuck in the old days discriminating between black and white. sad thing is that most of you white people on here probably aren't nearly as successful as some of the black people in the world and this crap makes you look real stupid. yes there are white people who do bad and black people who do bad. it doesnt mean that all white ppl are white trash and it doesnt mean that all black ppl are bad either. i find these discussions very defensive. its sad you have to hide behind the computer screen. i dare you to walk up to somebody of the other race and say this to their face. you'd probably get your face beat in. good luck.

"SO IF WE ARE GOING TO CALL BLACK PEOPLE WHITE AND WHITE PEOPLE BLACK,,,,, CAN I QUIT MY JOB AND COLLECT A WELFARE CHECK?"

Really smart. This is absolutely rediculous... do you have any idea how many white people live off the government with their 10 kids and 5 different baby daddys? You all are stupid... one day it will come back to haunt you.

Somebody will here you saying this stuff and beat the living crap out of you!!

[t]

Kansas is so much better than MO. Missouri is the armpit of the midwest. Missouri is well below average. Kansas is way better. Kansas is more clean, and is drug-free. Almost everybody in Missouri wishes they could live in Kansas.

[The Real Tits McGee]

Missouri is crap. Kansas is the greatest ever.

openmind

take a look at the statistics involving crack cocaine, whites smoke meth, blacks smoke crack, lots of crack! Go back to your crack pipe jigga man, and leave us crackas alone.

[Butch]

I see that you cant post with a name because oyur a p*ssy and your affraid someone might recognize you and kick your a**.

[whitey]

blacks are crack smoking morons

[Trip]

KC Bill-

Yea, lets allow, say, 2 hits of meth per person per day. That will help control the negative effects of it being illegal in the United States. Get real. You abuse anything and it will start to take a toll on your body. But drugs do so much more than that. They hurt you, your family, your friends, your community. Is damaging all of those worth testing legal hits of meth on the city?

[Trip]

Oh and by the way... There was promblems galore with prohibition because alcohol had been legal before that. You make almost anything illegal and your going to see some kind of corruption follow.

[Nate]

The "Sarcastic Crime Blog" and this nonesense need to go. If I were an employee of the Star I would be insulted to be sharing a website with some of the idiots that comment in these threads...

[Brian]

Hey Trip,

If you could open your mind and see what KC Bill is talking about, it might make sense to you. Instead, you know that your way is the only/right way. I say this...prohibition has had it's chance in the war on drugs since the Nixon era when he formed the DEA, and failed miserably. Maybe it's time for a different idea?

And Oh and by the way...ALL drugs were legal at one time, Marijuana, Cocaine, Heroin...all readily available from legal sources prior to their criminalization/prohibition. So, your point is valid and correct, although I don't think you meant it that way. ;)

I strongly encourage anyone reading this to go to the seminar mentioned earlier by KC Bill. LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) on April 2nd at UMKC. Maybe we can figure out a better way?

-Brian

[F]

KC Bill
I am with you on this issue . Make it leagal , control it & TAX it .

[Mary]

People who have not used meth or who don't know anyone who has should not be commenting on this. This drug is a white man's drug. Watch COPS, you never see black people freaked on meth. You see dirty white trash freaked out on meth. Even Oprah quoted statistics regarding meth on a recent show and it's white people using this drug. It doesn't have to be a race issue just because the facts state that it's a white man's drug. Look around, it's so obvious. I have used this drug on several occasions. It is easy to make if you have the money to buy the supplies. Most people who begin using it are upper to middle class whites looking for a pick me up. It becomes a physical need with very little use. In a short time a person can go from being a productive member of society to a desparate fiend who can only think of getting their next bump. I guess it doesn't matter who is using it, we just need to get people to stop using it period. It's a degenerative disease that is really afflicting society as a whole because it brings all of us down. How did I not become addicted? I know my parents love me. I would never want to hurt them or make them suffer. I thank God for their undying love every day because without it I know I would be in a gutter somewhere.

[openmind]

FYI,

I am white. I just find it amazing how quick a lot of white people are to say a certian problem (i.e. thug behavior) is exclusive to a certian group. Theymake it seem that it is because they are black, hispanic, etc. that they have this problem, and that whites are so much better. When it comes to something where the stats say that white people are to blame, instead of taking their own advice and "accepting responsibility" they talk about all of the problems that other races have. they try to provide reasons to explain the stats (rural use), however when others try to do the same thing, they say "quit making excuses." Instead of blaming a certian race, or a certian economic group, it would be a lot more useful if people tried to understand the problem to find ways to prevent it and treat it. Use the same critical thinking skills that you used to understand why white people use meth to understand problems that you think only other races have. I promise you, we all have problems, now instead of calling them out, we should work together to solve them. the "us vs them" mentality is far too present in this city in all races. once we begin to that people we think are different, are in reality very similar to ourselves, we can begin solving the problem.

[Trip]

Brian-

I meant what I said. Yes, cocaine and heroin were legal at one point- before the harmful effects were discovered. Thats why they were made illegal by the 1914 Harrison Narcotics Act. In the late 1800's we didn't have the technology that we do now to see what damage a drug can do to someones mind and body. When they began pushing for the criminalization of cocaine, do you know who they discovered were the most frequent users? Prostitutes, burglers, racketeers, and pimps. Sound much different from the users of today? Not by much. And meth was never legal to posses without a prescription. So what good can come of legalizing drugs that were made illegal (or never legal to begin with) that destroy minds, tear apart families, create crime, have been proven biologically harmful, and lower the standard of a community? None. If sexual predators didn't have to kidnap or take advantage of kids, they wouldn't have to break the law to get what they want, so should we reduce crime by lowering the age of consent to 10? Legalizing anything isn't a positive way of fixing crime.

But I guess trying to convince a supporter of NORML and advocate of legalizing every drug known to man is pressing a moot point, huh?

[plattecohighschooler]

Who cares what race it is? The dweebe who brought that up has issues. Missouri might have meth problems, but I wouldn't want to live in any other state. I mean, really. If you had to take either Missouri, with its nice people and common sense, or California, with its me- first narcissism and racial tension, which would you choose?
Also, good comment, duke. Its forward thinkers like you that help our country.

[plattecohighschooler]

I'm tired of people comparing us to the coasts and making us look like sh*t. About the freak who said that we are 25 years behind the coasts, well, as I said, you're a freak. Kansas City is WAY ahead of places like D.C. in tollerance. KC is the only place I know of where you can have a casual conversation about race with a black person on a school bus. I've had plenty of them. I'm also sick of hearing how great Johnson County is... all it really is is a bunch of stuck up, Catholic school brats who think their punks when they bitch about getting their knees scraped on the asphalt... PLATTE COUNTY CAN TAKE YOU ANY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!

[openmind]

have you been to CA or to NY or to Boston? What about DC or Atlanta. What information are you forming your opinion off of? You cant base your conclusions off of what you watch on TV. I am not trying to be mean, but I dont think that Platte County as a whole is very representative of Kansas City as a whole, or representative of very many major metro areas. It is important to experience more than just KC, and really more than just the US, before drawing any conclusions.

Where in Kansas can a person buy meth?

[Trip]

"I'm also sick of hearing how great Johnson County is... all it really is is a bunch of stuck up, Catholic school brats who think their punks when they bitch about getting their knees scraped on the asphalt...PLATTE COUNTY CAN TAKE YOU ANY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!"

This comment has to be one of the biggest wastes of space on this forum. Save it for the friday night football games plattecohighschooler.

[plattecohighschooler]

Okay, I will, but only if the people who want to drag this into a KS vs. MO fight shut up.

[plattecohighschooler]

It's kind of stupid that people can't see this for more than a racial issue. who cares who uses it? ITS A LETHAL DRUG. IF YOU OVERDOSE ON IT, BEING WHITE/BLACK/ASIAN/HISPANIC WON'T SAVE YOU. IF YOU LOOK AT THIS BLOG AND ONLY SEE AN OPPORTUNITY TO VENT ABOUT WHITES/BLACKS/ASIANS/HISPANICS, THEN YOU ARE SHALLOW. AND BY THE WAY, I'M NOT APPOLOGIZING FOR MY EARLIER COMMENT. THIS IS THE INTERNET, AN OPEN FORUM FOR DISCUSSION/ EXCHANGE OF INFO. IF YOU SEE MY POST AND THINK IT'S A WASTE OF SPACE, THEN RESPOND WITH SOMETHING THAT PROVES ME WRONG, OR DON'T AT ALL. IF YOU WANT TO SEE REAL WASTE, LOOK AT ARYAN'S. IF YOU REALLY THINK WHITES(OR ANY OTHER RACE) ARE SUPERIOR BY BIRTH, THEN GO TO ANTARTICA AND BUILD YOUR OWN LITTLE ETHNICALLY CLEANSED REPUBLIC THERE.

i'm done.

[mike]

Everyone knocks Jo co. Why? Jo Co is made up of people from all the surronding counties. People that move here from your county, so there families can live in a safer enviroment. Ragging on someone for tring to improve there life is such a small town thinking. jo co poorboy

[Brian]

Trip,

Thanks for your comments, let me try to speak to a couple of them, and maybe clarify my position a little further. Do I think that the answer is to legalize all drugs? Honestly…I don’t know

What I do know, is that the current system is broken and is in desperate need of repair. Billions upon billions of dollars have been spent on the "War on Drugs" and we have seen use stay at a fairly constant level. Fighting a war that can not, and will not be won isn't how I want my tax dollars spent, nor my Law Enforcement priorities wasted.

As far as your statement about who was using Cocaine prior to it's being made illegal? Well, it seems that it's more than just the seedy underbelly you describe.

Shakespeare, Sigmund Freud, Sherlock Holmes, and Doctors all extolled it's virtues...unfortunately though, many in society have problems with self control which leads to addiction. I whole heartedly agree that addiction to any of the dopamine inhibitor drugs can be devastating, and that is where I'm not so sure on how to go forward to solve this problem. I try to live by a mantra of “Everything in moderation” While my beltline shows that I don’t always practice what I preach, I sure am glad they haven’t outlawed pizza yet, cause I tell ya…Rosati’s is a group you don’t want to mess with!

You pegged me right though, NORML has a soft place in my heart, as does the beloved and much maligned marijuana plant. What really gets my biscuits a burning are the hundreds of thousands of citizens that are having their rights stripped away from them every year, simply because they choose to relax by using cannabis, rather than ingesting the more socially acceptable alcohol. It just boggles the mind that we have swallowed the lies force fed to us whole for all these years, and continue to believe them. Even with all this "technology" you speak of that tells us otherwise. The answer here is pretty simple though if you just look at it. Follow the money…Pharmaceutical companies don’t want you growing your own medicine, petroleum, textile and lumber companies don’t want you using hemp as an alternative to their products, and the alcohol industry sure as heck doesn’t want anybody smoking a joint after work to relax when a six pack or martini is readily available.

Harry Anslinger did this country no favors, and his “War on Drugs” is continuing to ruin people’s lives. I sure wish common sense would prevail.

-Brian

[plattecohighschooler]

I don't know why any one would really have to move from platte county to Johnson to keep their family safe. Second, i don't see much wrong with small- town thinking, if we had more of it, the world would probably be a better place.

[plattecohighschooler]

I think the idea that people think that alcohol is a more socially acceptable drug than mary jane is preposturous. I live next door to the kind of people I like to call "Rich White Trash." They won't control their kids, they treat neighbors like crap, and they drink A TON. It isn't the drug that is socially accepted, its the frauds that use them. These people portray themselves as the perfect catholic family. Its people like this that made me convert to the methodist church. People don't just drink to relax. If you need alcohol to relax, that's saying alot. It makes my jaw drop to see all the comments supporting drugs. Here's the deal: I go to high school and get to see the effects of drugs everyday. They destroy families, destroy lives. If you need any chemical to make yourself feel better, that's saying alot about you. I'm tired of the bathroom stalls smelling like pot, tobacco, and meth. Lets stop this together, now.

Wait until you get out of school.

To quote one of my favorite lines from Spinal Tap “This one goes to eleven” Life, it ain’t always easy.

Caution - sarcastic comments below!

Do you take ibuprofen, aspirin or acetaminophen when you've got an ache or pain? Do you feel better afterwards? That says a lot about you I guess. A real person wouldn't depend on anything other than sheer willpower and heal themselves from within.

Grasshopper...