Public Safety

Small-scale meth production spreads in Northern Michigan

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By MICHAEL KRANSZ
Capital News Service
LANSING — The recent bust of a mobile meth lab in Big Rapids illustrates the growing popularity of small-scale cooking operations employed by many drug users, and a growing problem for Northern Michigan, a police official said. The bust occurred Nov. 9 and saw 30-year-old Mark Peterson of Big Rapids led away in handcuffs after officers stopped his car in a remote part of the Ferris State University campus, said Bruce Borkovich, the director of public safety at the university. Following the vehicle stop, officers determined that Peterson had been using the car as a “one-pot” meth lab, a cooking operation in which small batches of the drug are produced, Borkovich said. Peterson was living with a Ferris State student in a campus apartment at the time, Borkovich said, and there was no evidence that he’d been distributing the drug.

Government

Meth labs pop back up after police raids

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By LAUREN GENTILE
Capital News Service
LANSING – Meth labs are a growing and dangerous problem in Michigan, with more than 400 cases tallied by the State Police this year. “The incidents we have numbers for are just ones that the State Police have handled, so the number could be much higher,” Shanon Banner, public affairs manager for the  State Police, said. “These incidents include busting a meth lab, finding a vacant lab, finding containers used to store or create the drug and even finding dumpsites.”
Meth is a synthetic stimulant created from pseudoephedrine and a number of toxic chemicals that affects the central nervous system through smoking, snorting, injecting or swallowing the drug. Meth was first discovered in Michigan in 1996 and has been an escalating problem since then, Banner said. “As soon we try and get it in control, another spike will happen and more cases will appear.”
Detective Sgt.