The number of methamphetamine labs in Walker County has spiked, leaving a heavy workload for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force.

Officers with the Walker and Chattooga County sheriff’s departments, as well as LaFayette Police Department and Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit district attorney’s office, comprise the Drug Task Force, which has focused on the area’s methamphetamine problem and shut down more than 14 labs in the past two weeks, Drug Task Force Commander Chris Hill said.

“Every time we turn around, there’s another one (lab),” Hill said.

Drug users and manufacturers turn to methamphetamine because the cheap ingredients are readily available, and the drug is easy to produce, he said.

Hill described one drug bust in which officers seized about $200 in ingredients — enough to produce about 2 ounces of methamphetamine with a street value close to $2,000, he said.

Most manufacturers keep the labs in vehicles so they are mobile, rather than in their residences, Hill said. Walker County officers have seized several labs during routine traffic stops.

Suspects convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine face a sentence of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the first offense, officers said.

Anyone suspecting a person of manufacturing methamphetamine is asked to contact the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force at (706) 638-5570