The number of methamphetamine labs, or meth labs, seized increased four times between 2010 and 2012 in South Carolina.
In 2012, 538 meth labs were seized.
This comes six years after South Carolina has made people show ID to buy Pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in meth.
Experts believe one of the biggest reasons for that increase is how much easier it is to make.
John Coffin, with Shoreline Behavioral Health, helps people who are addicted to meth.
"They'll show up in emergency rooms, they'll be agitated, out of control, very hard to strap them down sometimes requiring a lot of security personnel, things like that," Coffin said.
Coffin thinks meth is one of the worst drugs because people go so quickly from recreational use to addiction. He says a big reason for the increase in meth-related incidents comes down to a shift in the way dealers and users make these drugs.
Instead of large scale meth labs, they are down to one pot methods.
"These mobile labs and again small-scale production, they're difficult to detect and to track," said a drug agent in Horry County, who asked not to be identified.
Although the state tracks the purchase of the main ingredient, Pseudoephedrine, through logs at pharmacies, users find other ways to buy it, the drug agent added.
"Some of these people may have fake IDs, they'll have multiple identifications, they'll have groups of people that actually go to stores and purchase the product for them," he said.
The agent says everyone should pay attention to their neighbors, watch when they come and go, how many people they are bringing over and if they are disposing of a very large amount of trash on a regular basis. That could indicate a meth lab.
