Pubdate: Sun, 03 Jun 2007
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: G - 2
Column: Surreal Estate
Copyright: 2007 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Carol Lloyd
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?208 (Environmental Issues)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Marijuana - California)

METH HOMES CAN LEAVE NEIGHBORHOOD IN A MESS

"You should have come and visited our neighbors," my friend says 
cheerfully when I mention I'm writing about methamphetamine labs.

"We had one across the street. But you missed it," her husband tells 
me with a sigh. "That nice young couple moved in."

My eyes widen and I resist the urge to run across the street and 
knock on the neighbor's door and shout: Get out, as quick as you can!

If anyone should be alarmed by the idea of a meth facility within 
spitting distance of their 3-year-old daughter's front yard, then it 
should my friends -- a professional environmentalist and a 
woodworker/contractor.

They tell me they are not sure whether it was actually a meth lab or 
just a meth dealership. Because there was never a drug bust, or a 
fire, or an eviction that led to men in Hazmat suits swarming the 
premises, carting away pounds of poisons and ripping out carpets, 
walls and anything else that absorbed toxic chemicals, they could 
never know for sure.

Nor I presume will the nice young couple who bought the house, unless 
the sellers both knew and disclosed the fact in the sales process.

This conversation hits on one of the strange facts about meth labs. 
Most people know the basics -- the smokable, sniffable, shootable, 
swallowable intensely addictive drug made from ordinary household 
products like cold medicine, cleaners and kitty litter that ruins all 
kinds of lives from college students and homeless people to 
housewives and, increasingly, younger kids. (New on the market this 
spring: a pink, strawberry flavored meth targeting girls.)

According to some estimates, 85 percent of the meth production in the 
United States occurs in California. And every year meth producers 
turn thousands of homes into dangerous contamination zones.

But here's the rub: Meth labs are not only a danger to those who 
patronize them. They can also leave an invisible legacy that even the 
most savvy people might never know about.

Unlike marijuana grow rooms that often involve transforming the 
building structurally, ripping out walls, adding oodles of electrical 
voltage, sprinkler systems, lighting and ventilation, micro meth labs 
can remain low profile. Meth labs can be tiny -- some now are run out 
of the trunk of a car.

No doubt, meth producers often do trash a home, but once the place is 
superficially "cleaned up," the home may look fine yet remain 
contaminated for years.

California has pioneered legislation and government databases that 
help facilitate proper cleanup and disclosure of meth labs. There are 
also laws making it illegal to reside in a former meth house that 
hasn't been fully decontaminated.

Two years ago Debra Carlton, legislative analyst for the California 
Apartment Association, worked with Assemblyman Rick Keene to create 
standards for cleanup so that landlords knew what was expected of 
them to bring buildings back to code.

"It was a mess," said Carlton. "In Butte County in Northern 
California, there were boarded up homes all over the place. People 
just abandoned them and there were no standards for cleanup."

Although much meth production has moved to Mexico, Carlton said meth 
labs in California continue to be a problem. Historically, San Diego 
has been known as the meth capital, but Carlton says that recently 
Fresno is vying for that dubious distinction.

"But it's happening everywhere," she adds. "Even in the highest-grade 
properties. It used to be that it only happened in rural or suburban 
areas because you can smell it, but now they've gotten very efficient 
at piping smells off site."

"The problem is that for every pound of meth, 5 pounds of toxic waste 
are produced," said Joe McGurck, spokesman of Environmental Data 
Resources, a company that offers environmental reports based on 
public databases. "These guys aren't good guys, they aren't taking it 
down to the toxic waste dump. They're dumping it in the backyard."

"The other reason that meth is so dangerous is vapor intrusion," 
explains Jeff Doerner, western regional director of the environmental 
data company. "They cook under pressure and it creates very toxic 
vapors that penetrate Sheetrock, electrical conduits, wood and 
flooring, making them extremely contaminated for children and elderly folks."

Dave Tanforan, director of property management for large landlord GW 
Williams Co., recalls one meth lab discovered in a huge apartment 
complex in Sacramento he managed several years ago. "There was a 
kitchen fire and after the fire department went in they discovered a 
meth lab," he said. "We had to close down the whole building and 
evacuate all the tenants. The cleanup took about six months."

So what's a homeowner, landlord or property manager to do? "A lot of 
companies run criminal background checks," says Tanforan, although 
his company does not. "But there's no real way to screen for this 
kind of thing."

The state also maintains a database of discovered meth labs from all 
drug enforcement agencies that potential homeowners can search, but 
if homeowners are interested in both their home and their neighbors, 
ordering an Environmental Data Resources report may prove easier and 
more edifying (because it explains the data and searches within 
one-eighth of a mile of a given property.

California also requires home sellers to disclose the fact that a 
property has been the site of a meth lab. If property owners discover 
a meth lab (or a history of one) they are the ones left holding the 
smoking pipe. Basically, the landlord is financially responsible for 
the cleanup from the moment the fire trucks arrive.

Liability is also a huge issue. Neighbors or nearby tenants can sue 
the landlord for any contamination or negative repercussions related 
to living near a meth lab.

Carlton is supporting another state bill that would help funding for 
meth lab cleanup, but she questions whether the Legislature will want 
to designate money for this purpose. That the burden falls on the 
landlords seems fair in many ways -- after all, it is their property.

But, Carlton says, the laws that provide for tenants' privacy make it 
difficult for owners to make sure properties are not being turned 
into crank houses. Landlords have a right to inspect a property to 
make sure the smoke detectors work, but they must provide 24-hour 
written notice.

"A lot of times tenants can say 'that doesn't work for me' and 
delay," says Carlton. "I think people don't understand, when you give 
the tenants their keys, they have the right to their privacy."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake