West, Midwest in Grip of Cheap, Easily Purchased Meth.

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It's cheap. It's readily available. And it makes you feel real good. The West and Midwest are firmly in the grip of a deadly new drug--methamphetamine--which is concocted from such bizarre ingredients as Drano, liquid fertilizer, iodine, lighter fluid and cold medicine.

Known as "crank," "ice" or "meth" and with longer lasting effects than cocaine, the drug's popularity continues to rise. The drug's rush is that, as a stimulant, it mimics adrenaline, increasing heart rate, blood pressure and breathing, and energizes the brain. The downside is it can also produce feelings of panic, paranoia and rage, and create hallucinations. After prolonged use, it takes more and more of the chemical to get the initial pleasurable feeling.

Reducing the traffic is difficult because it's sold on a "closed market," according to Susan Pennell, a criminal researcher who was one of the authors of a federal study on the drug. Users usually go to someone's home or a motel room to buy it, compared to cocaine and crack cocaine users who buy from various street sources, often strangers.

The manufacture of methamphetamine has led to increased thefts in Kansas, Mississippi and Oklahoma of liquid anhydrous ammonia. To combat the drug, Missouri law enforcement is in line for nearly $12 million this year for the fight against its use and manufacture. Much of the money would go to the Missouri Highway Patrol, which has taken an increasing role in the war on drugs.

Troopers shut down 615 meth labs in Missouri last year, according to Representative Harold Selby, and 126 by...