The body count from prescription drug overdoses has risen in Kentucky, and narcotics officers face a daily dilemma in trying to find time to investigate prescription drug trafficking while also being ready to dismantle a methamphetamine lab on a moment’s notice.

From 2009 to 2010 in Kentucky, prescription drug overdose deaths climbed from 78 a month to 82. While this year’s statewide overdose death numbers won’t be available until the middle of 2012, the drug task force in Warren County has seen a 30 percent increase in prescription drug trafficking cases in 2011.

“It is very difficult to deal with the explosion of prescription drug trafficking when you have to spend so many man hours cleaning up meth labs, when they could be nearly eliminated with one simple piece of legislation,” said Tommy Loving, director of the Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task Force.

Loving was referring to legislation he supports that would require a prescription for a person to buy pseudoephedrine, the essential ingredient in methamphetamine.

Two state lawmakers have prefiled legislation that would require anyone buying pseudoephedrine to obtain a prescription before being able to purchase the drug. Another lawmaker has prefiled legislation that would make it illegal for a meth offender to buy pseudoephedrine within a certain time period after his or her meth-related conviction, and would reduce the amount of pseudoephedrine a person can buy within a certain time frame.

The Kentucky Narcotics Officers’ Association supports the two prefiled bills that would require pseudoephedrine buyers to obtain a prescription before being able to buy the drug.

The only answer that has proven effective in reducing the number of meth labs is to require a prescription to obtain pseudoephedrine, Loving said.

The reason is simple, he said. In Oklahoma, where a meth registry program prohibits meth offenders from buying pseudoephedrine, meth cooks simply pay others to buy pseudoephedrine for them in a practice called smurfing.

Oklahoma narcotics officers conducted a smurfing roundup last month, ultimately arresting 305 people accused on a variety of state charges of illegally obtaining or possessing pseudoephedrine for use in meth, according to a release from the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics & Dangerous Drugs Control. None of the people arrested had previous meth convictions, Loving said.

Oregon enacted prescription legislation 4 1/2 years ago. Since then, the state has seen a 96 percent decrease in the number of labs, Loving said.

“We’re not saying we’re going to eliminate meth entirely,” Loving said. That’s because some meth users will continue to buy the drug already made.

But the labs that consume so much law enforcement time and money in cleanup efforts will decline if access to pseudoephedrine is restricted to only those people who have a prescription for it, he said.

Mississippi enacted laws similar to Oregon’s about 18 months ago and has since seen a 65 percent decrease in the number of labs.

“I think the major squeaking wheel we have is meth or meth labs, because when a meth lab is found we have to drop what we are doing,” Loving said. “That takes a lot of time away from major case investigations” such as prescription drug, cocaine and marijuana trafficking.

In 2010, police were called to 64 meth lab incidents in Warren County. As of today, that number is 78 in 2011. A meth lab incident can include multiple labs, such as a site found in November on Garrett Hollow Road, where 48 labs were collected among 800 pounds of meth lab waste.

“Meth labs can be found anywhere – homes, apartments or hotels,” Loving said. “You don’t know if you have one in the apartment next to you that is going to blow up.”

Chemicals used to make meth are highly volatile, and the labs can, during certain stages of the cooking process, turn into fire bombs. That’s why law enforcement has to drop other investigations and respond immediately to those calls.

“There are many, many dangers associated with meth labs,” Loving said.