KENDALLVILLE, Ind. (WOWO): Today, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller and the Noble County Prosecutor’s Office co-hosted an interstate summit that focused on the rise of meth use in the area.

In 2012, Noble and Kosciusko counties reported the highest number of meth labs in northeast Indiana, according to Indiana State Police data. More than 1,720 meth labs were seized statewide last year and 25 deaths resulted from meth labs.

Whitley

“Statistics have shown that meth use and production in our state – especially in northeast Indiana – are not going away,” Zoeller said. “While our law enforcement community and state Legislature have employed measures to crackdown on these crimes, very real problems still exist. Today’s summit allowed key stakeholders to share information about challenges and best practices in order to get a better grip on this public safety threat.”

Top state and local authorities from Indiana and Ohio shared information about efforts to crack down on meth and synthetic drug use.

Zoeller said Indiana has already enacted a range of measures concerning the sale of the key ingredients used to make meth, like pseudoephedrine, and strengthen penalties for meth-related offenses.

A law passed in 2011, requires retailers to submit ephedrine sales and in 2010, legislators passed a law prohibiting a retailer from selling or the purchaser from buying more than 3.6 grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine in one day.