AP IMPACT: Meth fills hospitals with burn patients (AP)

This photo provided Jan. 10, 2012, by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department shows firefighters battling a blaze from a shake-and-bake meth lab explosion Jan. 29, 2010, at a house in Union, Mo. The crude new method of making methamphetamine, by combining raw and unstable ingredients in a 2-liter soda bottle, poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment — a burden so costly that it’s contributing to the closure of some burn units.  (AP Photo/Franklin County Sheriff’s Department )AP – A crude new method of making methamphetamine poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment — a burden so costly that it’s contributing to the closure of some burn units.