One-pot meth labs put public in peril

Dana Lovely (Alfred County Jail photos)

Carin Polk

So-called one-pot meth labs like Maine Drug Enforcement agents say they discovered in Lebanon last week are the newest, most dangerous - yet preferred - way for illicit dealers to "cook up" the illegal drug.

Dana Lovely, 39, and Carin Polk, 52, of 13 Hersom Lane, were both charged Tuesday with felony trafficking in methamphetamine, accused of operating several so-called one-pot meth labs inside their modest mobile home at the corner of Hersom Lane and Center Road.

Lovely is currently being held at the York County Jail on $2,500 cash bail while waiting to see if he can be accepted into a bail program, while Polk has been released on personal recognizance.

One-pot meth labs look nothing like the complicated and highly technologically advanced meth labs depicted on the popular TV series Breaking Bad, plus they are much more dangerous, often spontaneously exploding and killing or burning the person mixing the volatile chemicals.

One-pot meth labs could be as simple as a two-liter soda bottle filled with assorted toxic chemicals that can be found at any grocery or drug store.

They include substances found around the house like lithium strips (from batteries), sodium hydroxide (drain cleaner), ammonium nitrate (from cold packs or fertilizer) and camping-stove fuel, along with cold medicines like Sudafed.

When the mixture is combined in a one-pot method, also known as a "Shake and Bake," it produces meth, but can easily explode or ignite due to the unstable nature of the collective ingredients.

The ease with which these one-pot manufacturing systems can be hidden concerns law enforcement. Some meth dealers "cook up" the stuff while driving around in their car.

One dealer was caught at a California Walmart buying needed chemicals while he was "cooking up" a batch in his backpack, according to biomaxenvironmental.com, a California company specializing in managing contamination and hazardous materials.

Most of the ingredients necessary for one-pot method are easily obtainable. (Courtesy photo)

Using the "shake-and-bake method," meth manufacturers can produce hundreds of dollars' worth of the illegal drug in less than an hour in their back yard, the woods or in their car.

According to law enforcement agencies across the country, more than 90 percent of the methamphetamine busts associated with manufacturing are now using the extremely portable and "clandestine" Shake & Bake, or "One-Pot" synthesis method.

Another danger that can't be overlooked is that dealers often discard the one-pots by just throwing them out of their car. If a young child were to handle these "spent" bottles, they could be exposed to severe danger.

Even briefly breathing some of these noxious agents can cause significant and permanent lung damage and even death.

Oftentimes discarded one-pot meth labs are characterized by a white or brownish residue on the bottle.

If one is found along the side of the road, they should not be touched. Authorities should be notified so a haz-mat team can safely dismantle the lab.

On Wednesday in Lebanon, a special haz-mat team utilizing special safety equipment removed three, one-pot methamphetamine laboratories from the Hersom Lane home. Each lab was in a distinct and separate stage in the manufacturing process, a MDEA press release noted.

This was the third meth lab related incident MDEA has responded to this year. MDEA responded to 28 Methamphetamine Laboratory related incidents in 2014.