AKRON, Ohio -- Police say the addictive qualities in methamphetamine far outweigh concern for safety and health.
"[Users] know this stuff's being put in their bodies, but they need the hit. That's why they're doing it," said Officer Chris Crockett.
Crockett is part of the Akron Police Department's Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Team (CLET).
He explains how the household ingredients in meth are deadly on their own.
Muriatic acid:
"It's used to clean pools and clean concrete. These guys are using it to gas the methamphetamine. That gas is very corrosive, dangerous to breathe in," Crockett said.
Crystal drain opener:
"It will eat away your skin."
Lithium batteries:
"Pull the strip out, and this is a very unstable metal. With contact with water, it burns around 1,600 degrees."
Instant cold pack:
"Hear the rattle? That's ammonium nitrate."
Officer Crockett says every hit of meth contains this chemical residue. It only takes a few months for the drug to begin to corrode the human body, inside and out.
All too often, police find children exposed to meth labs.
Crockett says the drug overpowers responsibility.
"The addiction is 10 times stronger than cocaine," he said.
Just this week, an Akron mom was sent to prison for murder, after her toddler ate part of a batch of meth and died.
"Usually it's days and weeks later where we'll actually interview [users] again when they come down and off the drug and realize what they've done. It takes a long time to get off meth," Crockett said.
WKYC-TV