The upshot is that crystal became more potent. The more virile version, which is what you find on the street now, is referred to by chemists as d-meth. Government regulation also helped push meth to become more democratic. As federal and state laws, including Clinton's Methamphetamine Act of 1996, continue to try to cut off availability of crystal ingredients, scavengers go to increasing lengths to gather chemical components. Farmers have to worry about fires and explosions from tanks being poorly resealed.
Scavengers also hoard lithium from camera and car batteries.
Stories circulate about people driving up and down I-5, tearing lithium strips out of junked cars. Lithium is the crystal ingredient that researchers credit for heightened paranoid and psychotic behavior among users. Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are the most common, essential, and controversial ingredients in modern meth production. Ephedrine has become a main government target in attempts to halt meth production. It used to be available from bulk-mailing warehouses and wholesalers, but the DEA cracked down, tracking big purchases and educating retailers.