ROOTSTOWN METH LABS LEAVE LASTING EFFECTS

ROOTSTOWN -- On the street it is called crank, chalk, ice, crystal
and quartz. But methamphetamine, by any name, and the process by
which it is manufactured subject the "cooks" who manufacture it and
those who track down and clean up clandestine meth labs to hidden
health dangers.

The drug is popular because it is easy to manufacture -- recipes are
readily available on the Internet -- and can be injected, ingested,
snorted or smoked, according to William Franks, commissioner for the
Stark County Combined General Health District and a faculty member
at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine.

"You don't have to be a chemist or a chemical engineer," to make
meth, he told an audience recently as part of a public health lecture
series at NEOUCOM.

In the past several years, Franks, his agency and some of his NEOUCOM
students have been studying the lasting effects of methamphetamine
labs in Stark County.

Northeastern Ohio meth cooks typically use large amounts of red
phosphorous, easily obtained from match heads, and chemicals such as
antifreeze, drain cleaner and ephedrine and pseudoephedrine from
over-the-counter cold medicine to make the drug.

Clandestine labs can be recognized by the large amount of chemicals
required by "cooks," no visible means of support by occupants who
otherwise have large amounts of cash on hand, unusual late night
traffic, blacked-out or covered windows and external security
measures such as cameras.

Franks said 8,290 meth labs were seized across the nation in 2001
alone. In 2005, that number jumped to 12,282. Each cost between
$3,000 and $150,000, countless man hours and specialized skills and
equipment to clean up. Ohio authorities seized 377 labs in 2005, half
of them in Summit County.

Two chemicals found in and resulting from illicit meth production are
phosphine gas and anhydrous ammonia, which can do severe or even
fatal damage to the human respiratory system.

Anhydrous ammonia will "eat up anything with a water content," Franks
said. Inhaled or absorbed through the skin, it disintegrates the
mucous membranes and causes burns.

Franks said his agency issues condemnation orders for any house or
structure found to contain a meth lab and forces the property owner
to either clean it themselves or contract with a cleanup agency at
their own expense before allowing it to be re-occupied.

Residue from methamphetamine manufacturing "won't go away unless it's
cleaned up," Franks said.