How is methamphetamine produced and trafficked?
• There are many ways to synthesize meth from a wide range of chemicals. The active ingredient is derived from one of three chemicals, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine. Other chemicals used in the synthesizing process include iodine, red phosphorous, hydrochloric acid, ether, hydriodic acid, and anhydrous ammonia. • Recipes are commonly available over the Internet and only high school level chemistry skills are required to make it. • Many of the chemicals used to produce meth are highly volatile and extremely toxic, and can cause death or injury to the lab operators and their children, law enforcement officials who seize the labs, and first responders to lab explosions, and great harm to the environment one pound of meth is estimated to produce five or six pounds of toxic waste.5 • Superlabs those capable of producing 10 or more pounds of meth in a single 24-hour production cycle use large amounts of diverted commercial pseudoephedrine produced in China, India, German
