A Monday morning traffic stop led to a drug bust for the Crenshaw County Sheriff's Department.

Investigators arrested the driver, Jeffery Roy Adams, 24, and his passenger, Henry DeWayne Whitehead, 31, both of Troy and charged them on three counts - manufacturing drugs in the first degree, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The truck, a 1994 Ford Explorer, was initially stopped due to several traffic violations, including a shattered windshield and excessive window tint.

Investigator Robin Daniels said he noticed the smell of crystal meth when Adams rolled down his window.

"It has a very distinct smell," said Daniels. "It's like alcohol and when people are sweating it out of their system, you can smell it. Especially in a small enclosed area like a car."

Daniels, along with Chief Investigator Ronnie White, found a blue bottle with crystal meth. An intensive search of the truck yielded another bottle of the drug and a green book bag filled with materials used for its production

including gloves, scissors, razor blades, a pipe, a propane gas container, 39 grams of phosphorus as well as electrical and manual scales.

The scales and phosphorus are usually sure signs that there's an intent to produce and sale crystal meth, said White.

Also found were three containers about four inches long, all darkened to prevent the interior contents' exposure to sunlight.

"Crystal meth is real sensitive to light," said Daniels. "Light will destroy it."

Daniels said if anyone knows of someone producing crystal meth for sale to please contact the sheriff's department.

"A lot of times people can put a stop to this at the cash registers of department stores," he said. "It's pretty obvious what the tools are to make this stuff."

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency announced recently that crystal meth has become the largest drug threat in Alabama. Meth lab seizures by law enforcement have increased from 83 to 296 since 2000.

A proposed legislation sponsored by Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, would help limit the sale of cold medicine, specifically those containing pseudoephedrine which when combined with various other ingredients produces crystal meth.

Sheriff Charles West would like to see the legislation approved.

"Anything like that would help us a great deal," said West. "You have people buying a number of cases of these pills without restriction to manufacture crystal meth. That's how we catch a lot of people – because of what items they're buying inside a store.

Barron's legislation would make it mandatory for people buying medications that include pseudoephedrine to show identification and sign a register at the time of purchase.