Your local hardware and grocery store is becoming a heaven for meth makers.
The state only goes so far when it comes to clamping down on the sale of the ingredients used to make meth.
So some businesses are taking their own steps to restrict household items from meth cooks.
There’s a lot of red tape when it comes to buying the key meth ingredient pseudoephedrine cold medicine pills. That’s because the state requires behind-the-counter sales and only so many purchases per month.
However, if meth makers want to buy another meth ingredient such as lithium batteries at a store, there’s nothing stopping him unless the cook unless he walks into a store such as Westlake ACE Hardware.
At ACE Hardware near 41st and Peoria lithium batteries are kept under lock and key and away from the meth makers.
"They'll just come in and steal it and it's gone. It's off of our shelves," says floor manager Steve Edwards.
The manager has learned lithium is needed in quick batches of meth known as the shake-and-bake method.
"You just have volatile chemicals that are like a Molotov cocktail waiting to explode," says Edwards.
In Tulsa, there were three people killed last year from meth fires. Nobody wants to see deadly meth explosions such as the one that happened at the Royal Arms Apartment Complex in March of 2009.
However, FOX23 viewers are leery of more regulations. On facebook one viewer wrote, "Now it's batteries..what's next? What is this crap made of anyway??"
A lot of toxic chemicals used to clean out your car engine and even your household drains.
At ACE you won’t find the drain cleaner with lye on the shelves. Managers say they put that product behind the counter and require and document photo identification to purchase lye.
"We turn the photo id's and we have officers and detectives that will come back and look through our file," says Edwards.
ACE says it’s in a joint effort to keep the cooks out of their store and out of your neighborhood.
"It's just bad and you feel like you have to step in and do something” says Edwards.
Tulsa police report they’ve investigated 29 meth labs this year, there were 25 meth lab investigations at the same time last year.
Tulsa Police Special Investigations Division released a poster warning stores about other household products to watch out for among meth makers:
Common cold pills containing pseudoephedrine, asthma mediations. Chemicals and solvents: acetone, brake cleaner, camping fuel, denatured alcohol, drain opener, ether (starting fuel), gasoline additives, iodine/iodine tincture, MSM (methylsulfonylmethane), cold packs or compresses, paint thinner, rock salt, rubbing alcohol, toluene, sulfuric or muriatic acid. Apparatus: aluminum foil, coffee filters, lithium batteries, rubber tubing, matches, two liter bottles, fertilizer, heating sources such as hot plates.
Police warn these products bought in large quantities should be a warning for local store employees.
These products should also send a warning to neighbors who notice these products around someone’s home.
If you suspect meth activity call the anonymous meth line at (918) 592-METH (6384).
