ST. LOUIS — Police and sheriff’s departments in states that produce much of the nation’s methamphetamine have made a sudden retreat in the war on meth, at times virtually abandoning pursuit of the drug because they can no longer afford to clean up the toxic waste generated by labs.
Despite abundant evidence that the meth trade is flourishing, many law enforcement agencies have called off tactics that have been used for years to confront drug makers: sending agents undercover, conducting door-to-door investigations and setting up stakeouts at pharmacies to catch people buying large amounts of cold medicine.
The steep cutbacks began after the federal government in February canceled a program that provided millions of dollars to help local agencies dispose of seized labs. Since then, an Associated Press analysis shows, the number of labs seized has plummeted by a third in some key meth-producing states and two-thirds in at least one, Alabama.
The trend is almost certain to continue unless more states find a way to replace the federal money or to conduct cheaper cleanups.
In Michigan, authorities still bust meth labs when they find them, but tougher missions like secretly sending officers into the meth underworld have been scrapped.
“They’re not actively out there looking for it,” said Tony Saucedo, meth enforcement director for Michigan State Police. “And the big issue is money. We have taken 10 steps backward.”
At least one sheriff became so frustrated that he considered burning meth waste illegally in a landfill rather than leaving it in neighborhoods where curious children could find it.
In Warren County, Tenn., about 70 miles southeast of Nashville, deputies had “always been very aggressive on meth,” Sheriff Jackie Matheny said. By midsummer a year ago, they had busted some 70 meth labs. This year, that number tumbled to 24.
“When you have to kind of kick it into neutral, it makes you sick to your stomach because we know it’s out there,” Matheny said.
Making matters worse, sheriffs say, was the suddenness of the loss, which didn’t give cash-strapped local governments any time to come up with another way to pay for cleanups that typically cost $2,500 to $5,000 per lab.
“We didn’t have an opportunity to prepare,” Matheny said. “We just got a phone call saying, ‘You’re not going to have funds anymore.’ It just absolutely crippled us.”‘
Lab seizures were down 32 percent through May 31 in Tennessee, which led the nation in seizures in 2010. The numbers were similar or worse in other leading meth states: down 33 percent in Arkansas, 35 percent in Michigan and 62 percent in Alabama.
All of those states relied heavily on funding from the federal Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS program. It offered local agencies $19.2 million in 2010. That money was not renewed and is unlikely to come back.
What’s left behind
Because meth is made using a volatile mix of ingredients such as battery acid, drain cleaner and ammonia, only crews with specialized training are allowed to handle the materials found in labs. The waste and debris cannot be dumped in a regular landfill, only in specially approved waste sites.
In years past, a typical meth lab often consisted of pots of simmering chemicals in basements, kitchens and garages. But then restrictive new laws made it harder to buy large quantities of the cold medicine pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient.
That led many meth makers to give up on big batches in favor of smaller ones produced by combining ingredients in a 2-liter soda bottle. The majority of labs now use this “shake-and- bake” system, police say.
Cleanups typically cost at least $2,500, even for a small shake-and- bake lab. The Associated Press
