Spatial Patterns of Clandestine Methamphetamine Labs in Colorado Springs, Colorado

Abstract

Methamphetamine has become the most dangerous drug in the United States. More than half of the methamphetamine used is thought to be smuggled from Mexico, while the other half is manufactured domestically by clandestine methamphetamine labs that have sprung up all over the country. The ease of making the drug using over-the-counter medicines and household chemicals has encouraged many people to set up methamphetamine labs in their residences. In Colorado Springs, an urban area of about 360,000 people, the number of seized methamphetamine labs rose rapidly after the mid-1990s, from four labs in 1997 to 138 labs in the peak year of 2002. Altogether, 497 labs were seized between 1999 and 2005. Like other crimes, methamphetamine labs are not randomly distributed across space; rather, their distribution pattern is shaped by factors that may explain why an individual would want to start a methamphetamine lab and by those characteristics that make a neighborhood attractive as a place to produce methamphetamine. The spatial analysis of methamphetamine lab distribution in Colorado Springs shows that the methamphetamine labs are clustered roughly in and around the downtown area. They tend to be found in neighborhoods with a young and predominantly white population, small household size, and low educational levels. The distribution of methamphetamine labs also appears to have shifted northward over the 1999–2005 period. Such knowledge may assist law enforcement in their fight against the scourge.