Cookeville - meth capitol of TN? (Jackson, Franklin: sale, apartment, how much)

[CAtoGA]

Good morning. My sister works at a bank and one of her customers just moved back to CA from TN after having lived in Cookeville and Franklin. She informed my sis that Cookeville has the highest number of meth labs in the state. Don't know where she got her info, but I tend to be skeptical. I'm looking for some logical rebuttals to this argument as I really want to move my family to TN and Cookeville has, so far, ranked top of the list. TIA for all your help.

[TnHilltopper]

Originally Posted by CAtoGA

Good morning. My sister works at a bank and one of her customers just moved back to CA from TN after having lived in Cookeville and Franklin. She informed my sis that Cookeville has the highest number of meth labs in the state. Don't know where she got her info, but I tend to be skeptical. I'm looking for some logical rebuttals to this argument as I really want to move my family to TN and Cookeville has, so far, ranked top of the list. TIA for all your help.

I think rural America in general has a problem with meth as it is cheap. Problems like these tend to stand out more in rural areas simply because there are so few people. I remember visiting my sister in Florida and hearing about how bad the meth problem was in Lakeland and central Florida but again, I think the large metro areas have the same problem that is better hidden amidst the large populations.

There have been some steps taken by government (Bart Gordon, the congressman from this district) and local law enforcement to curtail the problems from this national scourge. They do take these problems pretty seriously and do attempt to address them with some vigor.

I have lived all over the US and abroad, I would have to say Cookeville is one of the safer areas of Tennessee to live in. I have no doubt it has its bad areas but by and large they are places you have to seek out, as they don't jump out at you.

[Tek_Freek]

Meth is pervasive. It doesn't matter where you live, it's there. As for how much or how little might be found: Well, it's illegal, and they're not advertising, so anything you hear short of information from the local authorities I'd take with a large grain of salt.

[alleycat]

Maybe Cookeville is just better about busting them! ;-)

Seriously, I think the meth lab people like the more rural areas; the kind of place where there's only two deputies to patrol the whole county. They can get a place out in the sticks, put in a trailer and go about their business relatively undisturbed. I have my doubts about Cookeville being the meth lab capital of the state; I haven't looked up an statistics about it however.

[kamoshika]

The meth problem in Cookeville isn't what it used to be:

"From everything I could find in my research, Cookeville was the third town in the United States to have a municipal ordinance controlling the sale of pseudoephedrine cold medicines, which I thought was pretty important," said Jarrell. "And something that you could track in this crucible of a small town was happening all over the country."

More and more towns followed suit with similar legislation, and soon law enforcement officials were seeing a dramatic drop in home meth labs.

"The labs dropped 50 percent shortly after the law changed [in June '03]; Cookeville changed by probably 70 percent," said Jarrell. "This law really did break the back of the home meth labs."
News Story

This article from 2001 shows just how bad the meth problem was a few years ago on the Cumberland Plateau:
Nightmare called meth leaves small towns reeling - Sunday, 08/26/01 (broken link)

[Tinman313]

They just pulled over a rolling Meth Lab on I-95 near Jacksonville, Fl. A old Winnebago they had it all fixed up just for making Meth. It's every where !!! Just do your research on a area, then spend a week their and talk too the locals. They know what's going on and then more research.......

[hiknapster]

Somebody told me that if you own a lot of property, you have to watch, because sometimes they'll try to sneak on and set up shop.

I wonder if those labs could explode?

[Tinman313]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Somebody told me that if you own a lot of property, you have to watch, because sometimes they'll try to sneak on and set up shop.

I wonder if those labs could explode?

O"yes !! I have been told that a standard 8 inch aluminum pie plate with all the chemicals used and when cooked if explode would have the force too level a 2 bed room apartment.

[TnHilltopper]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Somebody told me that if you own a lot of property, you have to watch, because sometimes they'll try to sneak on and set up shop.

I wonder if those labs could explode?

It does not take much space to house the equipment to make this stuff so I hope everyone pays attention to their surroundings. As is mentioned above, some of the chemicals used in its manufacture are quite volatile and very explosive. As I understand it, some of these chemical components like Ammonia are quite easy to smell from some distance as well.

[hiknapster]

I've heard you can get sick if you move into a place that had it in there. Darned if I know what it smells like, though.

I wonder why we don't hear about these explosions or fires. I've seen arrests reported, but nothing else. Maybe it doesn't happen very often?