Pubdate: Sun, 11 Sep 2005
Source: Salisbury Post (NC)
Copyright: 2005 Post Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.salisburypost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/380
Author: Mark Wineka
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

Series: Coming Clean (Part 1A)

ARE STATE RULES ON METH CLEANUP TOUGH ENOUGH?

 From the outside, the handsome modular home on Correll Loop Road doesn't 
look like a meth lab.

A flagstone walk with solar lamps on the side leads up to the wide, wooden 
porch.

The landscape features potted flowers, mulched planting beds and various 
adornments, such as a concrete bird bath situated behind a semi-circle 
driveway.

The lawn has been neatly trimmed and mowed.

But inside, the house is in disarray. Rowan County Sheriff's deputies 
raided the home March 29 and arrested two men for operating a 
methamphetamine lab.

The house still shows signs of that invasion. It also betrays the results 
of its "cleaning" later in the spring.

A contractor for Crime Scene Cleaning Inc., based in California, ripped out 
the living room and dining room carpet and hauled away a sectional sofa, 
love seat and recliner - all judged to have residual chemical contamination 
from the clandestine laboratory.

Documents filed with the Rowan County Health Department say contractor Mike 
O'Rourke of Dobson also ventilated the house, washed drapes, machine-washed 
clothing and cleaned walls, floors and appliances.

Joyce Hartman Jones ended up paying O'Rourke $1,000 for his services. She 
calls it a "ripoff."

"This house was cleaner before than when they came in here," she complains.

As owner of the home (she lives in another house close by), Jones had to 
satisfy new cleanup rules for a clandestine methamphetamine site and 
provide evidence that it had been decontaminated before the residence could 
be occupied again.

Lynn Aldridge, environmental health supervisor for the Rowan County Health 
Department, says Jones has met the state requirements.

Meanwhile, the case against her son, 30-year-old Shannon Hartman, and his 
friend Jeff Honeycutt has yet to be heard in court.

Jones defends her son and contends that the home, even though she went 
through the cost of a cleanup, never had an active meth lab.

"My grandbabies could lay on that couch," she said of furniture that had to 
be discarded. "I know there was nothing being cooked in here."

Health Concerns

Jones' property is the first in Rowan County that has had to be cleaned 
under the new cleanup procedures.

The 2004 General Assembly mandated that the Commission for Health Services 
come up with rules to address residual contamination that could be left 
behind in a house, business, mobile home, apartment, storage building, 
motel room, car or other place where methamphetamine has been "cooked" in a 
clandestine laboratory.

The commission passed temporary rules in December, and permanent rules, 
which follow closely cleanup guidelines adopted in several other states, 
went into effect April 1.

Why the concern about cleaning up clandestine meth labs?

Law enforcement officers and State Bureau of Investigation decontamination 
teams face acute (short-term) exposure when they first enter a lab and 
confront the bulk contamination materials - the reason they often are 
pictured during meth-lab busts in "moonsuits."

Without proper precautions, they risk severe health problems such as lung 
damage and burns to various parts of their bodies.

The fumes, vapors and spillage left behind from the cooking process of meth 
also leave toxins in curtains, couches, plumbing, countertops, walls, 
sinks, drains and ventilation systems.

Considerable anecdotal evidence suggests that a person's contact with this 
residual contamination can lead to breathing problems, burns, skin 
irritations, headaches, nausea and dizziness.

Little is known about the health effects from chronic (long-term) exposure 
to contaminants. Still, the Washington State Department of Health cites 
scientific evidence from animal and human toxicity studies showing that 
chemicals used in the manufacture of meth can lead to cancer; brain, liver 
and kidney damage; birth defects; and reproductive problems.

New Rules

Health officials welcome the state's new decontamination rules, as far as 
they go.

Because North Carolina had no cleanup law in effect before December of last 
year, many residents could be living in former meth labs without knowing it.

"That's certainly possible," Aldridge says. "That's the main thing that 
drove these rules."

Even with the new rules in effect, North Carolina has no real standard - 
neither does the nation as a whole - that determines whether residual 
contamination is really gone. It's generally left up to cleaning 
contractors to satisfy local health departments that they've done an 
adequate job.

In addition, the state's real estate laws do not require a property owner, 
manager or Realtor to disclose that a property was once a meth lab site, if 
the owner has followed the mandated cleanup procedure and abated the problem.

Western states have had a much longer history dealing with clandestine meth 
labs. The state of Washington posts former meth sites on a Web site, much 
like a registry for sex offenders, and notifies lending institutions about 
contaminated properties.

Washington and Colorado have numerical standards for the abatement of 
methamphetamine and other chemicals.

Except for requiring the neutralization of liquid acids and bases to a pH 
of 6 through 8, North Carolina doesn't require a numerical sampling of a 
meth-lab site after decontamination has occurred.

"Some states require measurements that are not health-based," says Romie 
Herring, an industrial hygiene consultant for North Carolina's Occupational 
and Environmental Epidemiology Branch. "Some have made estimations and 
assumptions and come up with a number. It's just a number. There is no 
health-based standard."

Herring stresses, however, that "there certainly is the potential for 
health impact, particularly for kids."

Herring says he believes the state's new rules can be as effective as other 
states, if "everyone does what they're supposed to do."

Some other states require real estate disclosure forms to note whether a 
property is a former meth lab, or even put that information permanently on 
a deed. Oregon levies stiff penalties against property owners who fail to 
inform buyers that their properties had been former meth labs.

Many states have no cleanup regulations at all.

Growing Problem

State and national statistics reveal that the do-it-yourself production of 
methamphetamine is the fastest-growing drug in the United States.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reports that known meth labs have 
increased from just under 400 in 1992 to nearly 17,000 last year. 
Meth-making operations have been uncovered in all 50 states.

In North Carolina, the numbers have steadily risen. The state had only nine 
meth lab busts in 1999. By 2004, the number was 322, up from 177 the 
previous year. Through August, state law enforcement agencies had uncovered 
244 meth labs, according to the State Bureau of Investigation.

Rowan County authorities have reported at least 11 seizures of meth labs 
here since 2000. (See related story, Page 7A.)

A Witch's Brew

Methamphetamine is an unlawful, highly addictive stimulant that goes by 
many other street names such as "ice," "crank," "speed," "stovetop" and 
"lemon drop." It can be smoked, snorted, taken by mouth and injected, 
coming in both powder and granulated (or rock) forms.

Several different techniques are used to produce meth, and they depend on a 
variety of chemicals including explosives, solvents, metals, salts and 
corrosives.

The ingredients are easy to find in local stores. Over-the-counter cold 
medicines containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are commonly cooked in 
the labs to make meth.

Other materials or ingredients might include anhydrous ammonia 
(fertilizer), starter fluid, lithium batteries, drain cleaner, road flares, 
matchbooks (red phosphorus), iodine crystals, hydrogen peroxide and salt.

The cooking process creates a witch's brew.

Scientists say a lab produces 5 to 7 pounds of toxic waste for every pound 
of methamphetamine yielded.

John Martyny, an associate professor of medicine at the National Jewish 
Medical & Research Center in Colorado, has performed the most extensive 
research to date on what chemicals are released during a meth lab's operation.

Martyny and other agencies gathered data on exposures at three controlled 
"cooks" of methamphetamine - in a scientific laboratory, house and motel 
room. They also measured residual contamination at 15 former meth-lab sites.

The team found levels of iodine, phosphine and hydrochloric acid that 
exceeded current occupational levels during a cook. They also found that 
large amounts of methamphetamine were released into the air and deposited 
on horizontal and vertical surfaces throughout a building.

"These are biologically significant levels of methamphetamine, especially 
for small children who explore their environment by crawling and putting 
things in their mouths," Martyny said after his 2003 study.

Meth houses, he added, remain heavily contaminated at least six months 
after an actual cook takes place, and he strongly supports cleaning 
surfaces, removing porous materials and testing for residual 
methamphetamine before and after a cleanup.

Enforcement Focus

Until recently, cleanup rules in North Carolina and the nation as a whole 
have taken a back seat to enforcement.

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper says his focus remains on preventing and 
busting clandestine labs. He believes the best approach to prevent more 
people from being endangered by labs is to cut criminal access to the key 
ingredients - a reason he has proposed placing cold tablets behind pharmacy 
counters.

The Rowan Meth Watch program also enlists its business participants to 
report any suspicious activity to law enforcement, put shelf tags on 
products that can be used to produce meth and train employees on the 
dangers of the drug. Nothing in the program yet has touched on the cleanup 
of former meth-lab sites.

As for whether North Carolina has adequate cleanup requirements for former 
meth-lab sites, Cooper says, "We're relying on the state scientists and 
health experts to make sure we have that in place."

Much of the burden of enforcing proper cleanup falls, however, to local 
health departments.

"It's a very important, concerning issue," Rowan County Health Director 
Leonard Wood says. "Something needed to be done."

'A File Cabinet'

Wood says the General Assembly called for cleanup rules because of the 
proliferation of meth labs, especially in North Carolina's western 
counties. As is often the case, Wood complains, the state mandated rules 
that require the local health departments to do the extra work without any 
additional funding for personnel, training or equipment.

"Our approach is to deal with it in a straightforward manner," Wood says. 
Mostly, that means keeping track of the paperwork.

The local health department "is kind of a file cabinet," says Aldridge, the 
department's environmental health supervisor.

The cleanup burden and expense falls on property owners such as Jones.

After law enforcement posts a business or residence as a clandestine lab, 
the health department notifies the property owner by letter that it cannot 
be occupied again until it has been properly decontaminated.

The state-outlined process requires a pre-decontamination assessment of the 
site, the decontamination itself, a post-decontamination report and a 
review by the health department of all the templates.

As in Jones' case, most property owners hire a contractor who specializes 
in cleaning up crime scenes or meth labs and is familiar with the 
requirements. The state and local health departments have a small list of 
those contractors, though a property owner could do it or hire someone else.

The state rules on decontamination are detailed, specific and 
time-consuming, if followed to the letter.

They give instructions on ventilation; getting rid of chemical remnants; 
remediating plumbing, heating and air-conditioning systems; disposing of 
non-washable porous materials, such as upholstered furniture and 
mattresses; machine-washing porous draperies, bed coverings and clothing; 
disposing of or wiping down appliances; scrubbing ceilings, walls and 
floors up to three times; and painting surfaces if odors linger.

Checking The Blanks

The state rules do not require any kind of inspection by the health 
departments, just the documentation that decontamination has occurred.

Aldridge never had to visit or inspect Jones' property, for example, and 
trusted the contractor to decontaminate the home properly.

The documentation stays on file with the health department for three years.

"All we really do is check the blanks and make sure they've done one and 
the other," Aldridge says. "I don't write anything if the house is cleaned. 
After it's all said and done, I don't write any kind of statement."

Aldridge acknowledges that other counties have taken a more aggressive 
role, deciding to make personal inspections before and after 
decontamination measures. But without the proper training and equipment, 
Aldridge says, the Rowan Health Department has not been comfortable putting 
its employees in that position.

Aldridge notes that a property owner could decide never to clean up a 
former meth-lab site.

"The house can sit there vacant from now until the cows come home," he 
says. He expresses concern, however, that some former meth-lab properties 
that are never cleaned will get "lost" and be reoccupied years down the road.

Aldridge also warns that mobile home meth labs are just that - mobile - and 
could be moved to a new site and rented to unsuspecting tenants without 
ever having been cleaned properly.

Disclosure

Rick Zechini, director of regulatory affairs for the N.C. Association of 
Realtors, says he considers the state's cleanup rules "pretty stringent" 
and a substantial undertaking for property owners.

Will they work in protecting North Carolinians?

"I think we're in the process of finding out," Zechini says. "We're still 
wading our way into these waters. ... I was concerned when I learned that 
the cost of doing a cleanup was going to be two or three times what it was 
represented during the (legislative) process."

Zechini stands by a Realtor's not having to disclose to a potential buyer 
or renter that a property was a former meth lab, if the site has been 
cleaned up according to the new rules.

"If you've cleaned the property up and the issue is resolved, there is no 
need to disclose," he says. "That's not unique to this issue. It's 
universal. You don't make people disclose for things that don't exist anymore."

Moral Responsibility?

As with the Realtors group, the Apartment Association of North Carolina 
played a role in the discussions leading to the General Assembly's 
legislation. "We're generally supportive of those rules because they set a 
standard," says Apartment Association President Scott Wilkerson of 
Charlotte. "At least now we know what to do."

Ken Szymanski, executive director of the apartment association, 
acknowledges that disclosure about former meth lab sites is not required, 
as long as the problem has been abated to the satisfaction of state rules 
and local health departments. That doesn't mean landlords can't tell a 
prospective tenant, he says.

"It's a bit of a tightrope to walk," Szymanski adds. "It's a business 
decision you have to make."

Jeff Smith, owner of Glover Realty in Salisbury, says the safety of "our 
families and consumers is the most important thing," and he anticipates a 
lot of discussion in the coming year about disclosure responsibilities 
related to meth labs.

"Barring a restriction that says we can't disclose," Smith says, "I think 
it is something we have a moral responsibility to disclose."

'Material Fact'

Real estate disclosure forms in North Carolina seek to elicit information 
about the condition of a property, such as whether it has a leaky roof or 
mold. There's also a disclosure requirement on existing environmental 
hazards. If a property has been a former meth-lab site and it has not been 
cleaned up, the seller would have to disclose that fact.

Miriam Baer, legal counsel for the N.C. Real Estate Commission, said 
licensees are required to disclose material facts about a property when 
they are, or should be, aware of them. The prior use of a property as a 
meth lab is material, she says, but the duty for a seller to report that 
fact only arises if he knows it.

Plus, if decontamination has occurred, no disclosure is required as long as 
the cleanup is properly documented, Baer says.

The Real Estate Commission does not require licensees to check with local 
health departments or law enforcement each time they list a property to 
determine whether they are trying to sell or lease a former meth-lab site.

Because the rules are relatively new, many people in North Carolina aren't 
aware that they exist. The state Realtors group, Real Estate Commission and 
Apartment Association of North Carolina have been trying to spread the word 
through newsletters and regular updates to members.

"All the questions haven't been answered," says Aldridge, the environmental 
health supervisor in Rowan County, "but this (the new state rule) is a step 
in the right direction."

A pet peeve of Aldridge's is a public perception that since health 
departments are involved, "everything is wonderful."

"It's a tough sell to guarantee that a house is completely safe," he says.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman