Pubdate: Thu, 04 Jan 2007
Source: Salt Lake City Weekly (UT)
Copyright: 2007 Copperfield Publishing
Contact:  http://www.slweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/382
Author: Ted McDonough
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH SCARE

Did The Last Person Living In Your Home Smoke Meth Does It Matter

Nicole says her mother watched a local TV news  broadcast last 
November about a do-it-yourself kit to  test for meth contamination 
in homes and became  convinced her granddaughter's earaches were 
caused by  Utah's scariest drug.

She picked up a free swab and test tube. Then, after  nagging Nicole 
to do the test, she handed in a sample  from Nicole's apartment with 
$45. The result: Nicole  and her 3-year-old daughter hastily packed 
up bare  necessities and abandoned their West Temple apartment.

Through a series of events the test results, showing a  few 
microscopic meth particles, landed on the desk of  the Salt Lake 
Valley Health Department, which quickly  showed up with a "closed to 
entry" sign.

"I came this close to being homeless and losing  everything I own 
right before Christmas," said Nicole,  who didn't want her last name 
used for privacy reasons.

Under a year-old law, local health departments must be  informed of 
meth home discoveries and publicize a list  of "chemically 
contaminated" buildings. The law was  written when meth labs were 
popping up everywhere.  Lawmakers wanted renters and home buyers warned.

But Utah health departments no longer get calls about  home meth 
labs. They're busier than ever now that  everyone and their mother is 
testing for meth with a  handy kit. State law only requires health 
departments  act when informed of a meth lab by police, but public 
health officials feel obligated to do something in  cases like 
Nicole'saE"where there's no evidence of a  past meth labaE"just that 
someone once smoked the drug  in an apartment.

No one knows if it is dangerous to live in a home with  microscopic 
particles of meth on the walls, but then no  one can say for sure it 
isn't. There is no national  standard for when meth residue becomes 
toxic. In the  meantime, Utah prefers to err on the side of caution.

"We don't have a lot of the science, but what can we  do?" asked 
Diane Keay of the Salt Lake Valley Health  Department. "This is not 
something natural in the  environment. It's a medication, an 
addictive drug. Why  should anybody have to put up with any of it?"

That reasoning doesn't comfort Nicole's landlords,  brothers Don and 
Billy Gowen who face closing the  apartment or spending thousands to 
"clean" it based on  questionable test results and state standards 
they say  are overkill. The amount of meth Utah will tolerate in  a 
square foot is 50,000 times smaller than the dose  once used in diet 
pills. "I'm convinced letting a  3-year-old out on a aEred burn' day 
is more  dangerous," said Don Gowen.

If the Gowens' triplex were in Minnesota, it would be  considered 
"clean" of meth with twice the residue  allegedly found in Nicole's 
apartment. Some states  allow 50 times the amount of meth residue as Utah.

Michael Rowzee, who is in the meth home clean-up  business, thinks 
Utah's low tolerance is prudent, since  the science is shaky but said 
the threat is often  misunderstood. A positive test might indicate a 
hazard,  "but not necessarily because the meth is going to jump  off 
the wall and get into your lungs," he said. Finding  used but still 
toxic meth rocks littering carpets of  users' homes is a more likely danger.

Keay, who helped develop Utah's meth clean-up standard,  said the 
formula is based on a medically significant,  but highly weakened, 
dose. It would be theoretically  possible for an infant to ingest 
dangerous amounts of  meth in a just-contaminated home by touching a 
wall and  sticking his fist in his mouth, she said, but the  infant 
would need to lick every square inch of a  good-size wall, floor to ceiling.

The meth measurement standard, Keay said, was developed  as an 
indicator there might be something else dangerous  in the 
houseaE"chemical leftovers from a meth lab. Now  that officials deal 
mostly with smoked-in homes, the  standard may need to be changed. 
Public health  officials will meet in January to discuss the new  situation.

State lawmakers are also planning changes to the  meth-home reporting 
law this year. One, which would  have helped the Gowens, proposes 
tests for meth residue  be conducted by state-certified 
specialistsaE"not  do-it-yourselfersaE"before results are reported to 
local health departments, said Rep. David Litvack,  D-Salt Lake City, 
sponsor of Utah's meth-home reporting  law.

Another proposal would require that sellers and  landlords disclose 
knowledge of homes contaminated by  smoking.

The Gowens have delayed receiving a "closed" notice,  but the health 
department may want their apartment  tested by experts. The brothers 
aren't thrilled at  having to prove their apartment's innocence, 
particularly given potential consequences. A positive  test would 
trigger listing on a "contaminated"  buildings list.

Then there would be the required clean up. The Gowens  were quoted 
$4,000 to "decontaminate" the 1,100  square-foot apartment. That 
doesn't include the cost of  replacing the carpet or, potentially, 
all the  appliances.

Theoretically, meeting Utah's "clean" level only  requires washing 
walls three times with soap and water.  But the reality of a 
professional decontamination is  different. "People are willing to 
pay more for  something they are afraid of," said Rowzee.

He recalled a Logan-area case in which a contractor  threw out 
everything in a house, including the  sheetrock, called it clean, 
charged $25,000 and left  the owner with a shell. Contractors often 
throw away  appliances rather than attempt to clean them. 
Others  tear out and replace all home ductwork.

Anyone who has met a tweaker knows meth isn't good for  you. But is 
it so dangerous that if someone once smoked  in your home you need to 
move? The brothers Gowen think  not.

Billy Gowen said a public health official told him  simply carpooling 
with a meth user was enough to  contaminate the car and everyone 
inside. "By that  standard you'd have to decontaminate courtrooms 
after  every case," he said.

"Nobody will ever commit to what an unhealthy level of  contamination 
is," complained Don Gowen. "They don't  know. This is madness."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman