MANY CHILDREN LIVING IN METH LAB HOMES TEST POSITIVE FOR DRUG

TULSA, Okla. - Seventy-seven percent of children living in homes where
methamphetamine labs are run test positive for meth or its ingredients,
Tulsa police statistics show. Police began keeping track of the children in
April 2001. Urine tests have been administered to nearly 100 children who
were found in homes with drug labs, Detective Danielle Bishop told the
Tulsa World.

Most of the results are back and some are still pending.

The chemical vapors produced during meth cooking coat the walls and carpets
of houses and buildings, making them uninhabitable, according to the Drug
Enforcement Administration.

Drain cleaner, hydrochloric acid, battery acid, lye and antifreeze are
commonly used to change ephedrine or pseudoephedrine in cold medicine into
meth.

Children who live in the labs suffer respiratory problems from breathing
chemical fumes, according to police.

As a result, Bishop said narcotics officers have changed the way they look
at meth labs.

"Before, they were so focused on documenting evidence of the lab that they
did not notice that it was next to a tricycle," Bishop said.

"Now they take pictures of the kids' rooms, and they are looking
specifically for potential dangers."

Children found at meth houses are examined and then referred to the
Department of Human Services, Bishop said.

"We are not going to be able to stop people completely from cooking dope,"
she said. "But the only way I know how to reduce it is to make it known in
the drug community that if they are cooking meth with kids in the house, it
is going to be twice as serious."

Bishop recounted an instance in which a drug dog visiting a school alerted
law officers that it smelled drugs on a child.

A DHS worker went to the boy's house and noticed signs of a meth lab,
Bishop said.

"When she went there, she saw three propane tanks outside the trailer and
hoses going inside the trailer. She thought this was a potentially
dangerous situation and called police," Bishop said.

Authorities discovered a meth lab inside the residence.

Bishop said all branches of the justice and child welfare systems must
ensure that meth lab operators understand they can face criminal penalties
for exposing children to meth production.