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"You should have come and visited our neighbors," my friend says
cheerfully when I mention I'm writing about methamphetamine labs.
"We had one across the street. But you missed it," her husband tells me
with a sigh. "That nice young couple moved in."
My eyes widen and I resist the urge to run across the street and knock on
the neighbor's door and shout: Get out, as quick as you can!
If anyone should be alarmed by the idea of a meth facility within spitting
distance of their 3-year-old daughter's front yard, then it should my friends
-- a professional environmentalist and a woodworker/contractor.
They tell me they are not sure whether it was actually a meth lab or just
a meth dealership. Because there was never a drug bust, or a fire, or an
eviction that led to men in Hazmat suits swarming the premises, carting away
pounds of poisons and ripping out carpets, walls and anything else that
absorbed toxic chemicals, they could never know for sure.
Nor I presume will the nice young couple who bought the house, unless the
sellers both knew and disclosed the fact in the sales process.
This conversation hits on one of the strange facts about meth labs. Most
people know the basics -- the smokable, sniffable, shootable, swallowable
intensely addictive drug made from ordinary household products like cold
medicine, cleaners and kitty litter that ruins all kinds of lives from college
students and homeless people to housewives and, increasingly, younger kids.
(New on the market this spring: a pink, strawberry flavored meth targeting
girls.)
According to some estimates, 85 percent of the meth production in the
United States occurs in California. And every year meth producers turn
thousands of homes into dangerous contamination zones.
But here's the rub: Meth labs are not only a danger to those who patronize
them. They can also leave an invisible legacy that even the most savvy people
might never know about.
Unlike marijuana grow rooms that often involve transforming the building
structurally, ripping out walls, adding oodles of electrical voltage, sprinkler
systems, lighting and ventilation, micro meth labs can remain low profile. Meth
labs can be tiny -- some now are run out of the trunk of a car.
No doubt, meth producers often do trash a home, but once the place is
superficially "cleaned up," the home may look fine yet remain contaminated for
years.
California has pioneered legislation and government databases that help
facilitate proper cleanup and disclosure of meth labs. There are also laws
making it illegal to reside in a former meth house that hasn't been fully
decontaminated.
Two years ago Debra Carlton, legislative analyst for the California
Apartment Association, worked with Assemblyman Rick Keene to create standards
for cleanup so that landlords knew what was expected of them to bring buildings
back to code.
"It was a mess," said Carlton. "In Butte County in Northern California,
there were boarded up homes all over the place. People just abandoned them and
there were no standards for cleanup."
Although much meth production has moved to Mexico, Carlton said meth labs
in California continue to be a problem. Historically, San Diego has been known
as the meth capital, but Carlton says that recently Fresno is vying for that
dubious distinction.
"But it's happening everywhere," she adds. "Even in the highest-grade
properties. It used to be that it only happened in rural or suburban areas
because you can smell it, but now they've gotten very efficient at piping
smells off site."
"The problem is that for every pound of meth, 5 pounds of toxic waste are
produced," said Joe McGurck, spokesman of Environmental Data Resources, a
company that offers environmental reports based on public databases. "These
guys aren't good guys, they aren't taking it down to the toxic waste dump.
They're dumping it in the backyard."
"The other reason that meth is so dangerous is vapor intrusion," explains
Jeff Doerner, western regional director of the environmental data company.
"They cook under pressure and it creates very toxic vapors that penetrate
Sheetrock, electrical conduits, wood and flooring, making them extremely
contaminated for children and elderly folks."
Dave Tanforan, director of property management for large landlord GW
Williams Co., recalls one meth lab discovered in a huge apartment complex in
Sacramento he managed several years ago. "There was a kitchen fire and after
the fire department went in they discovered a meth lab," he said. "We had to
close down the whole building and evacuate all the tenants. The cleanup took
about six months."
So what's a homeowner, landlord or property manager to do? "A lot of
companies run criminal background checks," says Tanforan, although his company
does not. "But there's no real way to screen for this kind of thing."
The state also maintains a database of discovered meth labs from all drug
enforcement agencies that potential homeowners can search, but if homeowners
are interested in both their home and their neighbors, ordering an
Environmental Data Resources report may prove easier and more edifying (because
it explains the data and searches within one-eighth of a mile of a given
property.
California also requires home sellers to disclose the fact that a property
has been the site of a meth lab. If property owners discover a meth lab (or a
history of one) they are the ones left holding the smoking pipe. Basically, the
landlord is financially responsible for the cleanup from the moment the fire
trucks arrive.
Liability is also a huge issue. Neighbors or nearby tenants can sue the
landlord for any contamination or negative repercussions related to living near
a meth lab.
Carlton is supporting another state bill that would help funding for meth
lab cleanup, but she questions whether the Legislature will want to designate
money for this purpose. That the burden falls on the landlords seems fair in
many ways -- after all, it is their property.
But, Carlton says, the laws that provide for tenants' privacy make it
difficult for owners to make sure properties are not being turned into crank
houses. Landlords have a right to inspect a property to make sure the smoke
detectors work, but they must provide 24-hour written notice.
"A lot of times tenants can say 'that doesn't work for me' and delay,"
says Carlton. "I think people don't understand, when you give the tenants their
keys, they have the right to their privacy."
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