METH HOMES CAN LEAVE NEIGHBORHOOD IN A MESS

"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."