METH LAB EFFECTS LINGER

But There Is No Monitoring, No Regulation

Marianna resident Beverly Conrad opened her newspaper last Sunday to
discover one of her rental properties on the front page.

The night before, a shake and bake methamphetamine lab exploded in the
front bedroom of the house on 4368 Lee Road, just outside of Marianna.

Conrad's property sustained a large amount of damage in the incident.
The front wall of the home will have to be replaced because the force
of the explosion pushed the wall so it now bows out.

The roof has a hole that is currently covered with a tarp. The ceiling
has a large crack and the glass in a window was blown out.

Conrad doesn't know how long the clean up process will take or how
much it will cost her.

She is having a hard time getting an estimate from contractors on the
damage because there is so much.

"At this time I'm just praying (insurance) will take care of all of
the damage," Conrad said. Conrad has nine rental properties in the
Marianna area. She said she has never had a problem like this.

Conrad was renting the property to Angela Renee Locke, who authorities
say was allegedly in the house at the time of the explosion.

Two male adults and a 3-year-old child were also allegedly in the
residence at the time.

Carlton Wayne Key was taken to Jackson Hospital and transported to a
burn center due to the severity of his injuries. Key is expected to
survive, authorities said Friday.

The child was turned over to the Department of Children and
Families.

Locke was placed in the Jackson County jail after the explosion, and
was rearrested on previous worthless check charges Thursday and sent
back to jail.

Conrad has told Locke she needs to move out. But as of Thursday, Locke
still had possessions in the residence and was living in a back area
that wasn't damaged in the explosion.

Officials with the Jackson County Drug Task Force said the
investigation is ongoing and charges are pending in the case.

The damages to Conrad's property extend beyond the structural damage
caused by the explosion.

When a meth lab explodes it releases caustic and carcinogenic
chemicals, according to Joey Rabon, a captain with the Jackson County
Drug Task Force.

The chemicals are absorbed into furniture, walls and carpeting and can
cause a number of negative health effects. A meth lab essentially
turns a place into a hazardous waste site, Rabon said.

When the drug task force is called to the site of a meth lab
explosion, the team assesses the lab and is trained on how to
dismantle it.

The officials from the task force wear protective suiting, gloves,
boots and oxygen tanks to protect themselves from the hazardous materials.

Just like any other investigation, the drug task force gathers
evidence. This includes taking samples of any liquids.

However, unlike other investigations they can't take evidence like
furniture or containers because they might contain hazardous substances.

The drug task force relies heavily on pictures of the evidence in
these types of cases, Rabon said.

The contaminated materials are usually taken outside by law
enforcement. Officers then wait for a hazardous materials company from
Panama City or Tallahassee, contracted by the federal government, to
remove the materials, Rabon said.

The drug task force only leaves with samples of the liquids found at
the scene.

After the evidence is gathered by the drug task force and the
hazardous materials are taken by hazmat, the site is basically out of
law enforcement's hands, according to Rabon.

Rabon said it is then the property owners responsibility to do
"whatever it takes to make that room livable."

Despite the hazards, there are no regulations in Florida that Rabon
knew of prohibiting someone from entering or inhabiting the site where
there was a methamphetamine lab.

"It's your home, I can't tell you not to go in your house," he
said.

Rabon said the danger extends to hotel rooms and apartments.

"You don't want to go lay your head in the same motel room that a meth
cook was in there cooking two days ago," Rabon said.

But there are currently no set standards on how to determine when a
site is safe to be inhabited after methamphetamine is found.

Sheriff Lou Roberts said a woman in a Marianna apartment complex
approached him while a methamphetamine lab was being broken down in
her complex. She said she had gone to Jackson Hospital days before and
doctors told her she had chemical burns in her nose.

She had likely been breathing methamphetamine chemicals for days from
the lab in her apartment complex, Roberts said..

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recommended guidelines
for the clean up of a methamphetamine lab, but there are currently no
national regulations requiring the inspection of a site that is a
former methamphetamine lab.

Rabon recommends that property owners have the site cleaned by a
professional company. But in Florida, there are no regulations
requiring a property owner to have the site cleaned up or inspected to
make sure it's not a health hazard.

There are also no regulations in Florida that require a landlord or
property owner to disclose to a potential renter or buyer if there was
once a methamphetamine lab on the property.

Also, Florida doesn't have a database of properties where
methamphetamine labs have been found.

According to Jackson County Environmental Health Director T. G.
Harkrider, his office doesn't have jurisdiction in a private home.

Harkrider said the Environmental Protection Agency in Florida can
offer technical assistance in terms of indoor air quality, but his
office doesn't inspect or regulate former methamphetamine labs in
private homes.

Several states have adopted statutes in recent years to protect the
public from the risks that come with a property that housed a
methamphetamine lab.

In Indiana, a property must be inspected by a state qualified
inspector, cleaned by a qualified inspector, pass clearance testing,
and the results must be reported to the local health department. This
all must be done before the home can be reoccupied, according to a
ruling from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

In Colorado, state law requires the seller of a property to disclose
to a buyer if that property has been used as a methamphetamine lab.

Having regulations for methamphetamine lab remediation is important
for the safety of the public, according to Roberts.

Roberts was part of a task force of law enforcement agencies, health
departments, the Florida Association of Realtors and the Florida
Association of Counties that traveled around the state discussing the
remediation of former methamphetamine lab sites. The team discussed
the importance of making the sites safe and how to do so.

The task force was put together by Governor Charlie Crist in 2007 to
"combat both the continued spread of methamphetamine as well as the
harmful social and environmental effects resulting from its production
and use," according to the governor's website.

The result of the task force was a website, www.stopmethinflorida.org,
the Florida Methamphetamine Control Strategy and a number of
informational materials.

Despite the evidence found that the chemicals at methamphetamine lab
sites are harmful to public health, there are currently no regulations
requiring proper clean up, Roberts said.

"My concern is the safety of someone moving into a house and the
health concerns," Roberts said. "I worry about the long term effects."