What are the Community Costs from Methamphetamine in the Flathead Valley?

• YOUR tax dollars go to clean up lab sites
• YOUR property value decreases
• YOUR tax dollars incarcerate and prosecute
• Police Officers are at higher risk of being injured or killed while investigating a methamphetamine lab or user
• Robberies, vandalizing and stealing are increased due to usage and need to support the addiction
• YOUR tax dollars go toward investigating child neglect/abuse
• YOUR tax dollars house the children in foster care
• Economic costs fall on local, state, and federal governments, which must allocate additional resources for social services, treatment, prevention, research, and law enforcement.

Unlike other drug busts, cleaning up meth labs is an extremely costly and risky business. Because of the volatile and dangerous nature of the chemicals used to make methamphetamine, specially trained hazardous material companies contracted by law enforcement agencies must clean up meth labs and the average cleanup, after just two batches of meth are made, costs $25,000 to $30,000. Added up, the cost of busting meth labs is far too expensive for local police departments to bear.

In 1999, law enforcement officials in Montana shut down and cleaned up 16 clandestine drug labs at a cost of $98,000. Last year, the number of labs found across the state rose to 86, officials said. The cost to clean them up grew to $631,000.

More Montana Meth Lab statistics

Statistics

• In 1997, four methamphetamine labs were seized across the state. The number has rapidly risen, climbing to a total of 86 meth-lab seizures in the past federal financial budgeting period.

• 79% of property crimes in Flathead County are drug related.

• The annual budget for the NW Drug Task Force for direct law enforcement is $457,801.00

• From investigation, to clean-up, each meth lab costs Flathead County approximately $8,300.00. The 23 meth lab busts in 2001 cost our county about $190,000.00
  

• There were 35 Flathead County meth lab arrests in the year 2000, 27 in 2001.

• The Flathead Valley stands as a leading home to those labs that have been shut down by law officers. Of the 16 labs shut down in 1999, five were in either Flathead or Lake counties. Eleven of 33 seized a year later were in the valley and 22 of 85 during the following period.

• For the 2001 year, Cascade County had the most, with 22 meth labs seized. Yellowstone County had nine labs busted, Missoula County had five and Butte-Silver Bow had four. Cleanup of seized meth labs last year in Montana cost roughly $600,000.
  

• During 2000 in Montana, 620 women and 920 men were admitted to state facilities for treatment of meth addiction.
  

• During 2000, the Northwest Drug Task Force busted 39 labs, 23 in 2001, and 4 labs so far this year. NW Task Force includes Lake, Flathead, Sanders, and Lincoln Counties.
  

EFFECTS ON SOCIETY

• car crashes
• crimes
• fires due to explosions from the illegal manufacture of methamphetamines
• hazardous waste

"The main problem remains, and will remain, the use of methamphetamine and other illicit drugs," said Yellowstone County Attorney Dennis Paxinos. "And the worst part is when they get hopped up on meth and commit violence."

Health and safety hazards, site contamination and the environmental impact

Not only are methamphetamine laboratories used to manufacture illegal, often deadly drugs, but the clandestine nature of the manufacturing process and the presence of ignitable, corrosive, reactive, and toxic chemicals at the sites, have resulted in explosions, fires, toxic fumes, and irreparable damage to human health and to the environment. Every year, fires or explosions occur at a number of clandestine laboratory sites, which lead to their discovery. 

The chemical reactions that occur during the manufacture of illegal drugs may produce toxic vapors that permeate into the plaster and wood of buildings or may be vented outside. The problems are further complicated when the chemicals are stored at off-site locations such as rental lockers. The lack of proper ventilation and temperature controls at these off-site locations adds to the potential for fire, explosion, and exposure to humans.

Methamphetamine laboratories may contaminate water sources and/or soil. In some cases, contamination may spread off-site. Careless or intentional dumping by the laboratory operator is one source of contamination. Spilling chemicals on the floor or dumping waste into bathtubs, sinks, toilets, or on the grounds surrounding the laboratories, and along roads and creeks are common practices. Surface and groundwater drinking supplies could be contaminated, potentially affecting large numbers of people. Perhaps the greatest risk of long-term exposure occurs by unsuspecting inhabitants of buildings formerly used by clandestine drug laboratory operators where residual contamination may exist inside and outside the structure.

Operators also dispose of hazardous chemical by pouring the wastes into local sewage systems or septic tanks, or burying them. Law enforcement personnel engaged in clandestine drug laboratory seizures and analysis require specialized training in the investigation of such facilities, including training in appropriate health and safety procedures and in the use of personal protective equipment. Clean up of a seized clandestine drug laboratory site is complex, dangerous, expensive, and time consuming. The amount of waste material from a clandestine laboratory may vary from a few pounds to several tons depending on the size of the laboratory and its manufacturing capabilities. There is generally six pounds of waste for every one pound of methamphetamine produced.

When a methamphetamine laboratory is seized, hazardous wastes and materials, such as chemicals, contaminated glassware and equipment, by-products, and the drug products themselves are found at the site and must be disposed of properly. These hazardous materials can weigh from a few pounds to several tons and include solvents, reagents, and precursors. Many of these materials are reactive, explosive, flammable, corrosive, and/or toxic. The danger is compounded by the fact that many Federal, State, and local law enforcement officers lack adequate training in clandestine laboratory safety procedures and regulations, hazards, and other related health and safety issues.

Although the quantities of hazardous materials found at a typical methamphetamine laboratory are relatively small when compared to waste generated from a major industry, the substances to which law enforcement personnel and others may be exposed present very real public health concerns. Methamphetamine laboratories present both acute and chronic health risks to individuals involved in the seizure and cleanup of the facility, to those who live and work nearby, and to the violator operating the facility.