LIBERTY, Mo. — Police in Liberty are investigating what could be a drug lab. However, the ingredient involved isn’t methamphetamine — it’s tree bark, and it’s made in a process similar to meth.
Liberty, Mo., police said they’ve only seen the drug a handful of times. On Tuesday, they were called to the Jefferson Park Apartments for what appears to be a DMT laboratory. Police said DMT is a hallucinogenic drug that can be made with the bark of the mimosas hostillus tree.
Related: What is DMT?
Police are trying to determine who owns a number of mason jars and other lab items at the scene — items that could be used in an operation to create the drugs.
Sgt. Tim Witcig with the Kansas City Police Department said it’s legal to buy the tree bark but not to process the drugs.
“DMT is a hallucinogen made from tree bark,” Witcig said. “It can be purchased over the internet and through a simple chemical process they can make a hallucinogen to put in their body.”
Sgt. Witcig wouldn’t say who alerted them to the lab but they’re trying to determine who owns it.
Witcig added that DMT is not a “fad drug” or an item on the rise, saying that his department has only seen a limited number of cases related to it.
