Posted on 03/09/2011 8:21:05 AM PST by Tennessee Nana
Bradley County Commissioners voted Monday to ask Congress to try to restore federal funding for cleanups of illegal methamphetamine operations.
The vote was 14-0 to ask Commission Chair Louie Alford to write a letter to U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann asking him to try to get the funding restored.
Bradley County Sheriff Jim Ruth announced two weeks earlier at a Law Enforcement Committee meeting that federal funding for meth “lab” cleanups was cut with only two days’ notice.
According to reports, the department averaged two to three meth lab busts a month last year. Removal and disposal of chemicals in an affected area costs an average of $3,000.
SNIP
As for the meth problem, the cut in federal funds comes at a time when the Tennessee General Assembly is considering cracking down on methamphetamine abuse, a problem that has seen a resurgence in popularity. The number of clandestine labs seized fell dramatically after state legislators passed a law in 2005 regulating the sale of pseudoephedrine, the primary ingredient in meth.
According to State Rep. Eric Watson, reports show the state had a record-setting year for meth lab seizures in 2010, with an average of five labs a day being seized.
House Bill 234 calls for adoption of a statewide, industry-funded National Precursor Log Exchange, an electronic tracking system to monitor and stop illicit purchases of over-the-counter cold and allergy products containing pseudoephedrine.
Watson said there is currently no mechanism in place in Tennessee to block illegal sales in real time, as many pharmacies and retailers rely on handwritten, paper logbooks to track purchases. As a result, criminals have learned to circumvent the current system.
Lawmakers also filed a bill aimed at a derivative of methamphetamine, known as “bath salts.” The drug affects the central nervous system and can cause chest pain, heart attack and stroke, as well as delusions and psychosis.
Bath salts recently gained the attention of White House Drug Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske, who released a statement dated Feb. 2, in response to the emerging threat of synthetic stimulants often sold and marketed in stores as “bath salts” under names such as “Ivory Wave” or “Purple Wave.”
He said they lack sufficient data to understand exactly how prevalent the use of the stimulants are, but they pose a serious threat to the health and well-being of young people and anyone who may use them.
At a time when drug use in America is increasing, the marketing and sale of these poisons as “bath salts” is both unacceptable and dangerous, he added.
if your property is used to make meth, you cannot use it or rent it until all the meth is cleaned out of it..
You cannot even go inside the building...
Oh and YOU have to pay the big bucks to hire experts to de-Meth your property
The drains can be hard to clean out...
FiRST QUESTION TO ASK IS, “LET ME SEE YOUR SMILE”..............
Low cost meth lab clean up. Deed the property to the local fire dept for training purposes. Burn it to the ground, dig a big hole and push the ashes in it and cover. Mess cleaned up. Former drug house is gone and sends a message to potential cooks....Cook meth - lose your house.....red
However these are usually rentals
It is water soluble. So if it gets into the drain field-leech field, the ground has to be dug up and disposed of.
I have seen several of these sites in AZ. The property owners are held liable and virtually all of them had to file personal bankruptcy.
Why wouldn’t we make the meth cookers when convicted clean up that mess as restitution?
Yep. Burn it down anyway. The landlord should have been more careful who he rented it to. The landlord can take whatever action he needs to recover his loss from the cook. Here in Oklahoma, most of the meth cook house are falling down fire traps to start with. Landlords spend no money on upkeep and maintenance and continue to rent them for a couple of hundred bucks a month. Eliminate the problem and get rid of the flop houses....red
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