Coffee Pot meth labs

[rlobinske]

Posted to a message board:

Coffee Pot Mini Meth Lab

Posted: Fri, 09 Feb 2007 09:19:31 +0000

According this the local news station in Huntsville Alabama, the ubiquitous cheap Mr. Coffee pot in hotel rooms is often used as a just-in-time makeshift mini-laboratory to make the drug meth. It :

Ask just about anyone in law enforcement, and they'll tell you to be careful if you ever brew coffee in a hotel room.
"I know enough now that whenever I go to a hotel, regardless of how nice it is, I'll never use a coffee pot," said Marshall County District Attorney Steve Marshall.

Instead of brewing coffee, coffee pots are sometimes used to brew methamphetamine. And since meth labs in hotels aren't anything new, Rick Phillips of the Marshall County Drug Enforcement Unit says there's definitely a risk.

"The coffee makers that you find in every motel room is an ideal heat source. They mix it up in the coffee pot, put it on a heat source and let it sit there and cook," said Phillips. It's common knowledge to those who fight meth, but a shock to your average citizen. Phillips says it's pretty easy to tell if a coffee pot has been used to cook meth. It will have a dark reddish-orange stain."

Looks like another of those "warning" messages like needles in ball bins.

[carter108]

I thought making meth was a much more involved processes. Kinda like running a still. I don't think you could use one coffee pot.

Well here is a news link stating a coffee pot can be used. Most of the stuff I found online seemed more rumor based.

[rlobinske]

So far, all I've been able to find refer back to the one article, which makes me wonder about how much this is "common knowledge".

[KathyB]

Here is the report from the Local News Station

In a March 2006 article, a Minnesota paper reported on a talk given to students by an ex-meth addict

Parnell said he will no longer drink out of a hotel coffee pot, because meth manufacturers are known to use motel rooms to cook meth and use the coffee pot to cook it.

I found sevderal blog posts and comments, going back a couple of years that mentioned this. "A friend who did a story on meth use" and similar sources were given.

[queen of the caramels]

"The coffee makers that you find in every motel room is an ideal heat source. They mix it up in the coffee pot, put it on a heat source and let it sit there and cook," said Phillips. It's common knowledge to those who fight meth, but a shock to your average citizen. Phillips says it's pretty easy to tell if a coffee pot has been used to cook meth. It will have a dark reddish-orange stain."

But , if the pot's dirty, I would call to get a fresh one. A dark red/orange stain could easily be a coffee stain after all.

[mags]

Ask just about anyone in law enforcement, and they'll tell you to be careful if you ever brew coffee in a hotel room.
...
And since meth labs in hotels aren't anything new, Rick Phillips of the Marshall County Drug Enforcement Unit says there's definitely a risk.
...
It's common knowledge to those who fight meth, but a shock to your average citizen.

Obviously, since everyone in law enforcement knows it, and it's done quite commonly, and we must assume it can make you sick, there are several documented cases of illnesses that have been tracked to coffee pot meth lab residue in a hotel patron's morning coffee. It happens all the time.

Oh, there aren't any reports of that? Must just be a conspiracy within the giant doctor/hotel owner cabal.

Originally Posted by mags

...

Oh, there aren't any reports of that? Must just be a conspiracy within the giant doctor/hotel owner cabal.

Just when I thought my day couldn't get any better...

Thanks

Originally Posted by carter108

I thought making meth was a much more involved processes. Kinda like running a still. I don't think you could use one coffee pot.

Well here is a news link stating a coffee pot can be used. Most of the stuff I found online seemed more rumor based.

One quote in the article is confusing: "The coffee makers that you find in every motel room is an ideal heat source. They mix it up in the coffee pot, put it on a heat source and let it sit there and cook," said Phillips."

The pot is being used to mix and cook the meth, but is the maker's hot plate the heat source used?

[Esprise Me]

Prometheus, I was confused by that, too. The base on which the coffee pot sits doesn't get very hot; the coffee is brewed by heating the water in a separate chamber and dripping it through the grounds in yet another chamber above the pot. I'm no expert on meth synthesis, but I don't see how that system could be adapted to a traditional coffeemaker.