This picture shows some of the stuff Meth cooks use to make the drug.  There are a lot of different recipes floating around - but they all need pseudoephedrine in order to make the real thing.  These other items are used to either get the pseudoephedrine out of the OTC meds, or to create the chemical reaction that ends up as Meth.  These other things, like drain cleaner, brake fluid and lye, are supposed to be eliminated in the Meth cooking, but if the cooks don't really know what they are doing, the final product could be contaminated with the toxic chemicals.  

Meth cooks make the drug in labs - but that's not a lab like your school science room.  A Meth lab can be in a house or garage...

     ...Or in a cooler or trunk..

...Or out in the woods.

No matter where the lab is set up, it is dangerous. Explosions and fires are pretty common.  People get chemical burns, and if they inhale the fumes while the Meth is cooking, they can blister their lungs.  When they are done, there's a lot of nasty, toxic waste material left over. 

Really Gross Note:
As bizarre or disgusting as it seems, there are people who try to get Meth from urine – their own or from other users.  'Pee labs’ aren't new and they don't work very well, either.  It takes a really long time to collect enough urine and the dose they get from it is only a fraction of their earlier hit.  And this method really isn't any safer.  Besides the downright grossness of it, urine labs exposes the user to all kinds of biological dangers, and the process of getting the Meth out of the urine risks explosions and fires, just like the other methods. 

Bottom line: If you see a container of yellow liquid in someone’s garage, refrigerator or property and it isn't Mountain Dew, leave it alone!  Keep in mind the biological and chemical hazards of Meth Pee Labs.