| What Are We Doing About Illegal Meth Labs Now?
Since 1995, DTSC has had a program in place to respond to all types of illegal drug labs. Most of these illegal drug labs are meth labs. When notified, DTSC’s contractors remove the bulk toxic chemicals involved in making drugs, and cleanup the obvious contamination. 
DTSC's contractors provide the removal of the bulk chemicals found at meth labs. After the gross chemical removal, the area needs an assessment of any residual contamination, including habitable structures. | | After DTSC’s initial cleanup, residual chemical contamination remains throughout the house. Whether or not that leaves the house, apartment, motel room, or dwelling clean and safe enough for future residents is a subject of national attention. Backed by recent legislation, DTSC is doing more about illegal meth lab cleanup approaches to ensure safe living conditions in former meth labs. Other ambitious but important goals are: - October 1, 2008: Develop health-based target cleanup standards for iodine, methyl iodide and phosphine, key toxic residues found in seized illegal meth labs.
- October 1, 2009: Adopt investigation and cleanup procedures that local agencies can use in dealing with illegal drug labs.
- Develop sampling and analytical procedures to detect meth residue.
- If DTSC’s funding and resources allow, develop additional health-based target cleanup standards for other toxics used to produce meth and for byproducts created during the cooking process.
Check with this Web page periodically for more information on the status of achieving these goals. - Emission Memo – “Initial Evaluation of Emission from Methamphetamine Manufacturing via the Ephedrine/Red Phosphorus/Hydroidic Acid Method,” June 23, 2003
- Bleach Memo – “Preliminary Analysis of the Efficacy of Using Cleaning Products to Break Down Methamphetamine, “ February 2, 2004
|
| Public Workshops: Development of Health-Based Meth Cleanup Standard NEW!
 DTSC and OEHHA are conducting joint public workshops in January 2008 for stakeholders and other interested parties on the development of the meth cleanup standard in residences formerly used to illegally manufacture methamphetamine. Before the meth cleanup standard developed is finalized, documents describing the scientific basis will undergo external peer and public review and comment. OEHHA has identified specific issues and concerns that are considered most important for comment.
|
| What Are The Meth Lab Cleanup Standards And Procedures?
Two laws passed at the same time; one directed towards DTSC to develop cleanup standards and procedures for meth and other chemicals of concern and the other that established interim cleanup standards and administrative procedures and guidelines to be used before people can move back into a structure used as a meth lab. The Local Health Officer or their designee, often the local Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA), carries out this law. This same law established that property owners are responsible for absorbing the cost of the cleanup – in other words, if you rent a house to someone who uses it to cook meth, when law enforcement discovers it and refers it to the Local Health Officer or their designee, you might very well have to pay to clean it up. DTSC collaborated with the California Conference of Directors of Environmental Healthto put on clinics to assist local agencies, industrial hygienists, and cleanup contractors understand their roles and responsibilities as dictated by law. In short, once the law enforcement agency notifies the Local Health Officer or their designee about meth-contaminated property, the property owner is responsible for determining the extent of contamination and how to clean it up. This usually involves hiring a certified industrial hygienist and a cleanup contractor with the appropriate training and licenses to do the work. With the Local Health Officer’s approval the cleanup occurs. If satisfied with the cleanup, the Local Health Officer will issue a no further action letter. Then the structure can be re-occupied. Beginning January 1, 2007, these same cleanup standards and procedures will apply to manufactured housing, RVs, mobile homes, and mobile home or RV parks. However, the cost of clean up will be assigned to the “appropriate” property owner – the owner of the RV, or manufactured or mobile home, or the owner of the park or both. These laws are not retroactive. If you have meth contaminated property discovered prior to January 1, 2006, or for manufactured housing, RVs, mobile home or RV parks discovered prior to January 1, 2007, check with your Local Health Officer or local environmental health agency.
|
| What Is Methamphetamine?
There are two forms of methamphetamine, l-meth and d-meth. The two meth chemical structures are mirror images of each other, much like your left (l-meth) and right (d-meth) hands. Both forms have medicinal uses and, legally, d-Meth is only available by prescription. Vicks® and Vapor Inhaler® are examples of over-the-counter medications that use l-meth as a nasal decongestant. When used as directed, l-meth does not represent a significant health hazard. D-meth is a controlled substance and legally is available by prescription to treat attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADHD) and for short-term obesity treatment. D-meth is a central nervous stimulant with effects dependent on a number of factors, such as the dose and frequency. Repeated doses may lead to tolerance and addiction to the desired effects and also affect withdrawal symptoms experienced.
|
| Why Is Meth a Problem?
While doctors prescribe d-meth, or simply meth, to treat ADHD and obesity, it is highly additive and easily manufactured illegally in concealed laboratories using common over-the-counter chemicals. This combination makes meth a widely abused drug associated with illegal activity. Manufacturing illegal meth can occur almost anywhere – in houses, garages, apartments, hotels, motels, recreational vehicles, storage sheds, mobile homes, and manufactured houses. Street names for meth include Speed, Ice, Crystal, Chalk, Crank, Tweak, Uppers, Black Beauties, Glass, Bikers Coffee, Methlies Quick, Poor Man's Cocaine, Chicken Feed, Shabu, Crystal Meth, Stove Top, Trash, Go-Fast, Yaba, and Yellow Bam. 
Conditions found at a meth house. | 
The same meth house - the kitchen condition. | Child endangerment is a grave concern to health officials. The threats to children living in meth lab houses are fires and explosions from runaway chemical reactions, chemical exposures, and, in general, questionable living conditions. Many of the chemicals used to cook meth evaporate easily and children are at greater risk to overall chemical exposure due to their breathing rates and body size. Children will inhale relatively larger amounts of chemical vapors due to their faster respiratory rates and greater lung size to body weight ratio.
|
| Environmental Impacts
|
| What Kind of Chemicals Are Used in a Meth Lab?
In collaboration with DTSC, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) developed fact sheets and technical support documents to inform property owners, the general public, and environmental professionals about how to recognize common chemicals used in a meth lab. | | |  | Pure iodine crystals, heated slightly, showing some solid iodine escaping directly to the air as obvious violet colored vapors. Because of this “sublimation” property, exposures include dermal contact with solid crystals and inhalation of vapors which may not be quite as visible as this at room temperature. Photographer, Charles Salocks. | The fact sheets are in a succinct, graphical format and designed to help individuals, including rental property owners and members of the public who want to be able to quickly recognize potential chemicals of concern found in illegal methamphetamine labs in order to avoid inadvertent exposures, resulting health impact, and environmental damage. The technical support documents address the need to educate and provide information to certified industrial hygienists and cleanup contractors about the growing environmental problem associated with meth labs. They also reinforce the need for public health protection and provide contractors information regarding contamination at illegal meth labs. These technical support documents will likely be most helpful to health and safety officers, industrial hygienists, or others interested in more detailed toxicological information. These documents are referenced, multi-page publications, which contain important health and safety data, exposure limits and key information for recognizing chemicals used or produced during the manufacturing of methamphetamine.  | | Lithium is a light-weight silvery colored metal used to synthesize methamphetamine. Collected from camera batteries and other small button type batteries, once these batteries are broken open, the lithiumimmediately begins to react with air.Photographers, Charles Salocks and Caron Poole. | | | |  | Sodium Hydroxide: Commonly used drain cleaner Drano contains sodium hydroxide, which can be used in the illegal synthesis of methamphetamine. Photographers, Charles Salocks and Caron Poole. | Environmental contamination is also a prime concern for meth lab cleanups. Disposal of toxic wastes may occur in sinks, toilets, and bathtubs, resulting in sewers or septic system contamination. Backyards and trash bins are also common disposal sites. These areas also need an assessment to determine if cleanup is needed. | 
Backyard disposal of toxic chemicals and chemical
containers to manufacture meth is common. | | 
In some cases, excavation is necessary to find all the toxic
waste and to cleanup the backyard's toxic dump site. | You can find additional chemical information at the following Web sites. These may be useful for health and safety officers, industrial hygienists, contractors, and other interested parties.
|
| Other States' Methamphetamine Programs
Illegal meth labs are a national problem. Recently, the U.S. Congress passed bill (HR 798) concerning researching meth lab cleanup procedures and voluntary guidelines. DTSC conducted a state survey to determine what other states are doing. Many states are tackling the meth lab cleanup issue and have made their programs available on the Internet, links to which we have provided below.
|
| Drug Lab Cleanup
Web sites listed below provide general information and reference materials on lab cleanup procedures and funding.
|
| Research
|
| Law Enforcement
| Click on one of the links below to go directly to a specific topic: |
