TAXPAYERS BEAR COST OF CLEANING UP METH LABS

CHATTANOOGA - Taxpayers have a big stake in the growing popularity of
methamphetamine: the cost of cleaning up after people who get caught making the
synthetic stimulant, usually in rural areas.

While city dwellers are typically far removed from the human cost -
children exposed to the toxic vapors of household chemicals and the hazard
of fires and explosions while they are cooking - the national average cost
of cleaning up each lab is $3,280.

In Tennessee alone, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency records show there were
525 labs seized in the first six months of fiscal 2003, 724 the previous
year, 630 in fiscal 2001 and 236 in fiscal 2000.

Using the national average, those cleanups - by hired crews wearing
hazardous materials protection suits - cost the government a total of $6.9
million.

DEA spokesman Will Glaspy said Congress gave the agency $20 million last
year for state and local agencies to clean up methamphetamine labs that are
found in home kitchens, backyard sheds and even motel rooms.

"Not only do you have the problem of the drug use and drug addiction but
the problem of the clandestine lab itself," Glaspy said in a telephone
interview. "You've got issues with kids being in labs ... people pouring
this stuff out. You've got contamination issues that you don't necessarily
have with drugs imported into the country."

DEA special agent David Shelton said Wednesday at a meeting of the
Southeast Tennessee Council on Children and Youth that "our tax dollars"
are footing the cost to clean up the labs. He said owners of property where
labs are discovered are notified "there may be residual chemicals" that are
their responsibility.

Shelton said he was unsure if there are follow-up tests after cleanups of
contaminated property to detect potentially life-threatening residues, such
as phosphine.

He said chemicals used to make methamphetamine - including red phosphorous
from matchbook striking plates, ephedrine from cold tablets and fuel line
antifreeze - can be purchased in stores and by mail order. He said some
retailers have started notifying law enforcement agencies about suspicious
purchases of such items.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Laymon described the drug making in
southeastern Tennessee, northwestern Georgia and northeastern Alabama as
"primarily a Caucasian phenomenon." He said there are also "large,
organized Mexican and Cuban drug gangs" transporting large quantities of
methamphetamine to the region.

He told the dozens of social services, child protection, courts, health and
law enforcement agency employees at the meeting that some users say the
drug initially is an aphrodisiac, reduces appetite and boosts energy. He
said some users say it keeps them awake for up to two weeks at a time.
Users quickly become addicted and become paranoid and develop sores.

Odorous vapors from cooking - sometimes on kitchen stoves - the hazardous
chemicals cause respiratory problems, headaches, nausea, rashes and sores.
Exposure can cause loss of consciousness and even death, and the labs
sometimes explode and burn.

Long-term meth use can create paranoia and hallucinations.

State records show Tennessee child protective services took custody of more
than 600 children from parents involved with methamphetamine since the
start of 2002, also mostly in rural communities.

Tennessee's first statewide methamphetamine conference is scheduled for
Dec. 1-3 in Nashville.

Glaspy said an eastward migration of methamphetamine is continuing since it
first turned up decades ago in California. He said a DEA agent was recently
shot in Philadelphia in a case involving the drug.

"We're hoping that it doesn't" become a problem in major cities, he said.
"We are monitoring it closely."

He said some methamphetamine labs have been found "in the state of New
York. We are starting to see that. Every state has been affected by it."