The After Meth

3/7/2017 (Permalink)

When an Oregon family started experiencing mysterious health problems soon after moving into a new home this summer, a neighbor came forward with a likely explanation: The previous owners had produced methamphetamine there. The house had never been properly cleaned after the drug cooks moved out, but an environmental engineer who studies meth labs says the family may not have been safe even if a cleanup had taken place. 

His research suggests that once a house has been used to make meth, the drug can continue to percolate in the walls for years.

"We said, 'It needs a little bit of love, but it's got good bones,'" Jonathan Hankins told Yahoo News of the home he and his wife Beth bought in Klamath Falls, Ore., from Freddie Mac. "We just had no idea that those bones were poisonous."

Breathing problems started for Beth within days of move-in. Soon Jonathan was suffering from nosebleeds and migraine headaches, and the couple's 2-year-old son, Ezra, had mouth sores. The Hankins said a test showed methamphetamine contamination was at 80 times the state's designated safe limit. [Was D.A.R.E. Effective?]

Glenn Morrison, an associate professor of environmental engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, is working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to study how methamphetamine accumulates in building materials, furniture and common household items during production. His findings so far seem to validate Jonathan Hankins' choice to call his house's "bones" poisonous.

"You can have a very clean wall and still have the walls releasing chemicals," said Morrison. "Let's say the meth lab was busted, and they took out everything and washed it down and aired it out for a week or so, that's probably sufficient to remove solvents and things that end up in dust. What it doesn't do is get at those chemicals — methamphetamines and similar compounds — that have penetrated through the drywall and into the building structure."

Though some states have authored their own guidelines, no national standards exist on meth lab-cleanup or acceptable levels of methamphetamine exposure.

Methamphetamine Labs 

Many of the chemicals used in the production of illegal drugs such as methamphetamine are volatile and can leave harmful residues throughout a structure. Our technicians follow federal and state guidelines to properly clean all surfaces.