'Shake-and-bake' meth fills hospitals with burn patients

Monday, January 23, 2012 | 11:10 a.m. CST; updated 4:25 p.m. CST, Tuesday, January 24, 2012

ST. LOUIS — 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.

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