ABANDONED METH LAB DISCOVERED

Health officials have declared an East Porpoise Bay home unfit for human
habitation after the landlord discovered what appeared to be an illegal
methamphetamine laboratory on June 5 and informed police.

The drug operation was abandoned and police have made no arrests.

The house is on a secluded, wooded lot at the end of Allen Road.

On June 9, RCMP Cpl. Glen Evans, leader of the province's clandestine
laboratory response team, was supervising a clean-up crew wearing protective
suits and respirators as they removed drums and sacks of industrial
chemicals as well as contaminated equipment. He described this as a
medium-sized meth lab that could produce "a large amount of finished
product."

"We found three 45-gallon drums with toxic chemicals, half and
three-quarters full," said Evans. "There were two homemade vent hoods. They
left their equipment strewn all over the place. It's dismantled and lying in
heaps on the floor - I believe they've been dumping chemicals into the
septic tank. The upstairs toilet is totally contaminated."

A fire truck and crew of firefighters were standing by because of the
dangers of fire or explosion posed by some of the chemicals, as well as to
respond to any toxic spills.

"They can decontaminate the person who's in need," said Evans.

Some of the chemicals found were gallon cans of toluene, sacks of caustic
soda and phosphoric acid. The glassware and lab equipment was gone.

Evans said the house had been used for a marijuana growing operation
upstairs while the methamphetamine lab took up most of the basement. Only
remnants of the pot grow-op were left, including some lights, bags of used
soil and rotted shake, the waste part of the pot plants. An electric fence
had been installed around the property.

Robert Roden, a Port Coquitlam man, said he bought the house three years ago
in the hope of moving there with his wife after their children left home.

"We decided, let's get our little piece of paradise while the prices are
still reasonable," he said.

Now that dream home has become a nightmare and Roden fears he may have to
declare bankruptcy.

"We might have to knock the house down and live in a trailer," he said.
"I'll see if I can salvage it."

Bob Weston, environmental health officer for the Sunshine Coast, said the
landlord must hire an environmental consultant to assess and decontaminate
the property before it is approved for occupation again.

"A lot of the chemicals become ingrained in the structure of the building,
such as bare wood surfaces and carpeting," Weston said. "In some cases, it
can involve the gutting of the house. In extreme cases, it can involve
dismantling the house completely."

The toxic wastes must be disposed of at an approved site. Weston said the
fumes from the meth cooking process and the waste chemical sludge are much
more dangerous than the raw chemical ingredients.

"The vapours from cooking up this chemical soup can cause significant health
concerns with respect to the respiratory system," said Weston. "Our concern
is exposure to any future residents of the house until it's cleaned up."

Roden said he had no reason to suspect his tenant was doing anything wrong
until he missed a rent payment and could not be reached by phone.

"Me and my buddy went up on the weekend and walked into a disaster zone,"
said Roden. "Every room had been destroyed. There's a hole in the front
wall. The washer and dryer had been thrown outside. I found barrels of
toluene and other stuff that freaked me right out. Now the house is probably
condemned."

Roden said he would advise other property owners to be aware of the damage a
drug-producing tenant can do. "It's so prevalent. It's like a cancer, I
guess," said Roden.

Roden said police have advised him landlords should protect themselves by
inspecting their properties every two or three months and including
permission for these inspections in the lease.

Const. Bryson Hill of the Sunshine Coast RCMP is leading the local
investigation. He said while this is the first meth lab uncovered on the
Sunshine Coast, RCMP "have received information of others we are attempting
to locate."

Hill said meth is becoming more popular with drug users on the Coast, which
is a "big, big problem."

"It affects you more than crack does," said Hill. "For a lower price, you
get a longer high and a faster high. It's more addictive, and it's starting
to come to our town now."

Evans said crystal meth has always been part of the drug scene, but in the
last five years it has become a worse problem all over B.C.

"It's cheaper than heroin or cocaine =85 but if people knew what it's made
of, I don't think they'd be ingesting it," he said. "Long-term it's
extremely bad for you. You can stay awake for days on it and it makes you
very paranoid."