LONDON, Ky. (AP) — Federal and state law enforcement authorities say they’re seeing an increase in meth production some four years after Kentucky implemented a law to make it more difficult to purchase the ingredients.

Kentucky State Police Capt. Kevin Payne said Wednesday that police discovered 428 meth labs last year and 210 more so far this year.

That’s up from totals in the years immediately following the 2005 enactment of the state’s meth law, which limits purchases of cold medications and other chemicals used in meth production. Payne said the number of meth lab busts fell to 328 in 2006 and 302 in 2007, after that law went into effect.

Appalachian High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area deputy director Dave Keller said meth cookers are circumventing the law by getting people to purchase the ingredients for them in small quantities.