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Oilboom Reduces Meth Lab Presence in Permian Basin
Oilboom Reduces Meth Lab Presence in Permian Basin 9/11/12
Law enforcement says the presence meth labs are drastically cut in half.
Sgt. Ray Weatherby with the Midland County Sheriff's Office says they have busted countless meth-labs over the years.
But it’s been eight months since their last bust.
“No room for cooking,” he said.
Abandoned homes, which were prime real estate for a meth cook, are no longer vacant.
"If it has roof,” he said, “Someone is living in it."
Weatherby says meth cooks don’t cook in their own kitchen or even neighborhood.
“The majority of people want to get away from them (meth labs) and their families while their cooking,” he said.
So he says they'll pack up and take their lab to an oil patch, but those nice and quiet areas are now populated with oilfield traffic. Weatherby says within the past year meth lab presence has been cut in half.
“Now There’s eyes everywhere out in the oilfield,” he said, “It's 24 hours a day in the oilfield and at anytime someone can come down that road and they (meth cooks) wouldn't know it. So no privacy any more.”
The Sergeant says that even though meth presence is on the decline, drugs such as marijuana and cocaine are on the rise with the growing population.