If one searches for “meth” on the Internet, one thing he or she will find are postings of recipes for the drug.

Shirley Armstead, special agent and public information officer for the Drug Enforcement Administration, said the posting of methamphetamine recipes on the Internet is not something new, but rather an act that has been going on for “a while.” She said people have been posting the information for years. She also said posting the recipes for the drug is not illegal.

“It just didn’t start yesterday or this year,” Armstead said. “It’s not against the law. What is against the law is when people use the recipe to make meth.”

Even though the recipes are easy to find, Doug Johnson, special agent assigned to the Springfield resident office of the DEA, said there are problems with anybody being able to post the information for users to see. He worked legally with a chemist in a lab to make meth, and he has observed that “a lot of the recipes on the Internet aren’t correct.”

Johnson said one big mistake is how the posters will substitute chemicals for other ingredients.

“A lot of the people who are putting the recipes on the Internet don’t have a clue to the exact way of making it,” he said. “The cause of serious bodily injury or death may occur quicker because of lack of knowledge to prepare this stuff.”

Johnson said there are really no printed rules for making meth like there are for making other things. He said many of the people who are posting learned how to make the drug in jail, while others make up their own concoctions.

While he has not encountered it personally, he has heard of people switching up chemicals personally to make the final substance more dangerous.

While it is not illegal to post the recipes, the DEA can investigate the people who post them if they can be location specific. He said the number of agents who have been able to make cases for investigation within the past year has risen.

Johnson said people who make the drug don’t post recipes on the Internet, but they might get their recipes from the Internet.

Armstead said the DEA has never had a problem with people selling or distributing the drug through sites on the Internet.

Dennis Clements, junior Spanish major, said he doesn’t see a problem with the posting of meth recipes being legal. He would see a problem if the postings were regulated.

“When they tap into investigating for a recipe, what else are they going to investigate?” Clements said. “If they start regulating that, who knows where it is going to stop.”

He thinks there are “more serious venues” to investigate than postings.