For the past few years, Tennessee has ranked in the top three in the country for the number of meth labs.
In 2012 the state was ranked number two.
Legislation passed last year in Nashville hasn't done much to solve the problem.
State lawmakers last year moved to curtail the sale of pseudoephedrine....the active ingredient in methamphetamine.
It required the buyer to show identification.
But as this shows, buyer is using a fake drivers license.
In some cases, those who wanted the pseudoepherdrine just got someone else to buy it.
The Tennessee Comptroller did a study of the latest legislation and found that requiring prescriptions for pseudoepherdrine like Mississippi and Missouri did, resulted in an 80 % drop in the number of labs found and dismantled.
Tommy Farmer is the state director of the Meth Task Force.
TOMMY FARMER "What it really does..more than anything, its validates exactly what we were saying and it doesn't come from us..it doesn't come from the law enforcement side."
There were about 1800 meth labs busted in 2012 ----about the same as the year before.
Farmer says local, state and federal officers are just barely holding the line.
TOMMY FARMER, DIR. TENNESSE METH TASK FORCE " As long as we're all working together and sharing expenses and resources, its manageable. But when you take one of those out..it may be too much of a burden to be bear by the local agencies alone...and unfortunately they have no choice. "
Farmer says local police and sheriff's offices trained by his staff...are are now finding and cleaning up the meth labs.
Funding for the state meth task force is scheduled to end in December of 2013.
TOMMY FARMER "We would go out of business...if something doesn't shift..doesn't change and unfortunately it shifts that burden. Obviously we're going to have meth lab seizures. Obviously if we go out, its going to shift it somewhere."
Farmer says for now there are no grants to apply for which could continue the funding for meth lab cleanup and prevention programs.
Meth labs cost state taxpayers in many ways.
More than 450 children were removed from homes where meth was being made in 2012.
Tommy Farmer says it costs 102-dollars a day to care for each child and they usually spend more than a year in state care.
