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Tenn. overtakes Mo. in meth lab seizures, busts

(via Flickr/ tsbxbby)

Updated at 1:06 p.m. March 1, 2011 with information that Tenn. has overtaken Mo.

Data from state officials shows Tennessee has knocked Missouri out of the lead for meth lab busts and seizures for the first time since 2003.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the state had 1,960 meth lab incidents in 2010. That's a 10 percent increase over the previous year.

But Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force director Tom Farmer said Tuesday that his state had 2,082 incidents, up 41 percent from a year ago.

Meth lab incidents also jumped by nearly 300 in Indiana, to 1,395 in 2010.

A federal Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman says national meth lab incident numbers won't be released until July.

Officials in both Tennessee and Missouri say colleagues in several neighboring states also are telling them of huge jumps in meth lab incidents.