A small, makeshift meth lab can be placed in the trunk of a car.

There are two faces to the meth problem in Illinois: locally-produced and imported meth. But, as time goes on, they are merging into one.

Locally-produced meth: Most of the meth found in southern, central, and northwestern Illinois is produced in small, rural, makeshift meth labs, known as “small toxic labs” or “mom and pop labs.” These labs use equipment and ingredients that are, for the most part, readily available at local drug, hardware, and farm supply stores. The people who run these meth labs are addiction-driven; they make small quantities of meth to feed their own addiction to the drug.

Imported meth: By contrast, most of the meth found in the Chicago area is imported by Mexican drug cartels who manufacture the drug in “superlabs” located in northern Mexico or California. The sophisticated criminals who run these cartels are profit-driven: They make and move large quantities of meth to make money through the drug trade.

As “mom and pop” labs creep into the Chicago area and imported meth is more widely distributed, these two problems are merging into one. If Chicago follows the pattern set by some urban centers in western states, we will see large supplies of imported meth and smaller supplies of locally-produced meth feeding a growing pool of meth-addicted customers. Any statewide strategy to address the meth problem must recognize and address both faces of meth in Illinois.