METH SCARE

Did The Last Person Living In Your Home Smoke Meth Does It Matter

Nicole says her mother watched a local TV news broadcast last
November about a do-it-yourself kit to test for meth contamination
in homes and became convinced her granddaughter's earaches were
caused by Utah's scariest drug.

She picked up a free swab and test tube. Then, after nagging Nicole
to do the test, she handed in a sample from Nicole's apartment with
$45. The result: Nicole and her 3-year-old daughter hastily packed
up bare necessities and abandoned their West Temple apartment.

Through a series of events the test results, showing a few
microscopic meth particles, landed on the desk of the Salt Lake
Valley Health Department, which quickly showed up with a "closed to
entry" sign.

"I came this close to being homeless and losing everything I own
right before Christmas," said Nicole, who didn't want her last name
used for privacy reasons.

Under a year-old law, local health departments must be informed of
meth home discoveries and publicize a list of "chemically
contaminated" buildings. The law was written when meth labs were
popping up everywhere. Lawmakers wanted renters and home buyers warned.

But Utah health departments no longer get calls about home meth
labs. They're busier than ever now that everyone and their mother is
testing for meth with a handy kit. State law only requires health
departments act when informed of a meth lab by police, but public
health officials feel obligated to do something in cases like
Nicole'saE"where there's no evidence of a past meth labaE"just that
someone once smoked the drug in an apartment.

No one knows if it is dangerous to live in a home with microscopic
particles of meth on the walls, but then no one can say for sure it
isn't. There is no national standard for when meth residue becomes
toxic. In the meantime, Utah prefers to err on the side of caution.

"We don't have a lot of the science, but what can we do?" asked
Diane Keay of the Salt Lake Valley Health Department. "This is not
something natural in the environment. It's a medication, an
addictive drug. Why should anybody have to put up with any of it?"

That reasoning doesn't comfort Nicole's landlords, brothers Don and
Billy Gowen who face closing the apartment or spending thousands to
"clean" it based on questionable test results and state standards
they say are overkill. The amount of meth Utah will tolerate in a
square foot is 50,000 times smaller than the dose once used in diet
pills. "I'm convinced letting a 3-year-old out on a aEred burn' day
is more dangerous," said Don Gowen.

If the Gowens' triplex were in Minnesota, it would be considered
"clean" of meth with twice the residue allegedly found in Nicole's
apartment. Some states allow 50 times the amount of meth residue as Utah.

Michael Rowzee, who is in the meth home clean-up business, thinks
Utah's low tolerance is prudent, since the science is shaky but said
the threat is often misunderstood. A positive test might indicate a
hazard, "but not necessarily because the meth is going to jump off
the wall and get into your lungs," he said. Finding used but still
toxic meth rocks littering carpets of users' homes is a more likely danger.

Keay, who helped develop Utah's meth clean-up standard, said the
formula is based on a medically significant, but highly weakened,
dose. It would be theoretically possible for an infant to ingest
dangerous amounts of meth in a just-contaminated home by touching a
wall and sticking his fist in his mouth, she said, but the infant
would need to lick every square inch of a good-size wall, floor to ceiling.

The meth measurement standard, Keay said, was developed as an
indicator there might be something else dangerous in the
houseaE"chemical leftovers from a meth lab. Now that officials deal
mostly with smoked-in homes, the standard may need to be changed.
Public health officials will meet in January to discuss the new situation.

State lawmakers are also planning changes to the meth-home reporting
law this year. One, which would have helped the Gowens, proposes
tests for meth residue be conducted by state-certified
specialistsaE"not do-it-yourselfersaE"before results are reported to
local health departments, said Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake City,
sponsor of Utah's meth-home reporting law.

Another proposal would require that sellers and landlords disclose
knowledge of homes contaminated by smoking.

The Gowens have delayed receiving a "closed" notice, but the health
department may want their apartment tested by experts. The brothers
aren't thrilled at having to prove their apartment's innocence,
particularly given potential consequences. A positive test would
trigger listing on a "contaminated" buildings list.

Then there would be the required clean up. The Gowens were quoted
$4,000 to "decontaminate" the 1,100 square-foot apartment. That
doesn't include the cost of replacing the carpet or, potentially,
all the appliances.

Theoretically, meeting Utah's "clean" level only requires washing
walls three times with soap and water. But the reality of a
professional decontamination is different. "People are willing to
pay more for something they are afraid of," said Rowzee.

He recalled a Logan-area case in which a contractor threw out
everything in a house, including the sheetrock, called it clean,
charged $25,000 and left the owner with a shell. Contractors often
throw away appliances rather than attempt to clean them.
Others tear out and replace all home ductwork.

Anyone who has met a tweaker knows meth isn't good for you. But is
it so dangerous that if someone once smoked in your home you need to
move? The brothers Gowen think not.

Billy Gowen said a public health official told him simply carpooling
with a meth user was enough to contaminate the car and everyone
inside. "By that standard you'd have to decontaminate courtrooms
after every case," he said.

"Nobody will ever commit to what an unhealthy level of contamination
is," complained Don Gowen. "They don't know. This is madness."