CLEANING UP METH MESS PUTS LIVES AT RISK

Children Living Around Labs Most in Danger

There is nothing safe about a meth lab.

It's not safe for those desperate enough to risk manufacturing
methamphetamine. Nor for the unsuspecting living nearby.

And it's far from safe for the law enforcement officers who have to
dismantle the drug dens and break up the dealers' circles.

Start with the chemicals.

A meth lab is a world of explosive chemicals such as ether, lithium
and anhydrous ammonia. Fires start when there is moisture in the air
or a match is thoughtlessly struck.

Add to that the likelihood of the maker being an addict, complete with
the heightened paranoia and nervousness that goes along with the drug
use, according to law enforcement officials.

"These guys making meth, they're not chemists. They're not smart
enough to be chemists," said Capt. Dwayne Brewer of the Mississippi
Bureau of Narcotics.

Throw in predatory users, competitors, the presence of firearms and
the five pounds of toxic waste generated for each pound of meth
produced and you have an explosive mix just waiting for the spark.

"The risk starts with just the fact you have a lab," Brewer
said.

Despite the raids that come spaced by only days many times, Brewer
said the greatest damage he's seen is that being done to children who
sometimes live under the same roof as the meth lab.

"The most disturbing part of it - they're making it and there are kids
living in there," Brewer said. Children too young to understand the
activity going on around them sometimes test positive for
methamphetamine use, just because they've been living around the
chemical fumes for so long, he said.

"There's nothing safe about any of them."

About 100 rural water system managers and workers from around the
country attending a national conference in Biloxi in early October
received a tutorial in how to spot a meth lab.

It starts with a smell - almost a burnt almond smell, Lt. Klint
Krieger of the Biloxi Police Department told the crowd - but there are
plenty of other telltale signs to watch for: exhaust fans, temporary
power lines to outbuildings and large amounts of trash piling up.

Meth trash, an assortment of household chemicals that can be purchased
easily at any discount store, isn't taken to the curb like most
residential trash because being placed there makes it available for
police to rifle through, Krieger said.

One attendee recalled how a meter reader checking for water leaks at
one Tennessee home that had seen a dramatic spike in usage was met at
the door with a shotgun.

While addict lab workers can easily fall over into erratic violence,
even a sober head can make a fatal slip-up. A carelessly lit match, a
tremor of the wrist or inaccurate mixture can end lives.

But the risks aren't for the manufacturers alone, Brewer
stressed.

Family members, neighbors and the responders who must clean up the
mess after the bust is made, are all potential victims.

Since 1995, meth lab busts have skyrocketed from five a year to
several hundred per year.

"The most disturbing part of it," Brewer said, "is when they're in
their house and their kids are living there."

Meth labs can be based out of tool sheds, homes or apartment
buildings. They're called "clan" labs, short for clandestine, and they
can end up costing $100,000 to undo the environmental contamination,
Krieger said. But other toxic chemicals - dumped in a clearing or
flushed down toilets - invariably find their way into waterways and
even drinking water supplies.

"There's been houses that had to be bulldozed because the people
renting were cooking meth," Krieger said. "If you see this stuff out
there, stop what you're doing and (go) to where you have the nearest
phone... It's better to be safe than sorry."