A tale of one meth lab

A single gram of meth is often enough to keep an addict satisfied for a day, according to agents from the Illinois State Police’s Zone 5 Meth Response Team. Beginning in June 2012, drug task force agents tracked 78 occasions when people who had recently purchased pseudoephedrine arrived at Tena Logan’s residence in Loxa, Ill., according to a written statement by FBI task force officer Scott Standerfer, in the case against Logan.

Two decades of meth use

Michael Pasley first used meth in his early teens. Two decades later, his use came to a quick end when he was arrested April 5, 2010, in Mattoon, Ill. The arrest came after he spent 22 straight days high on meth. He had been in a friend’s garage for about the final two weeks “just cooking and doing dope” before the police found him, said Pasley, 35. Yet during his two decades of meth use, Pasley was not always quite so addicted to the drug.

Meth use on the rise again in Illinois

Once thought to be on a downward spiral, recent criminal reports indicate that meth use is climbing again. In fact, Illinois registered the fifth-most meth lab seizures and arrests in the country last year, behind Missouri, Tennessee, Indiana and Kentucky.