State leaders want federal guidance, money to fight meth
Last updated Wednesday, December 20, 2006 6:35 PM CST in News
By Tina Reed
The Morning News
WASHINGTON -- Despite nationwide concern about methamphetamine, Congress still is not providing enough resources for enforcing anti-drug laws or cleaning up former 'meth' labs, Arkansas officials say.
A bill requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to create national guidelines for decontaminating residences where methamphetamine was "cooked" failed to pass in Congress this month.
"A lot of people were waiting on that and it would've given us some guidance," said Norman Kemper, a forensic chemist for the state Crime Laboratory's Illicit Lab Section.
But Arkansas is moving forward on its own.
A task force of environmental, health and law enforcement experts looked into ways Arkansas can clean up the residual toxic chemicals that disperse inside dwellings during the manufacture of "meth," a highly addictive stimulant.
The group recommended the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality oversee contractor licensing for decontaminating former meth labs.
It also pushed for a statewide database to help potential home buyers avoid purchasing contaminated property.
Sen. Shane Broadway, D-Bryant, and state Rep. Frank Glidewell, R-Fort Smith, plan to introduce a measure based on those recommendations during the next state legislative session beginning in January.
But federal money still is needed at the state level, Broadway said.
"We'd like to see the feds setting aside money to help those who can't afford to have their home cleaned," he said.
Legislation setting aside money to clean up private property whose owners were unaware of previous methamphetamine activity died in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
More than 1,200 meth laboratories were discovered in Arkansas in 2003 and 2004.
This year, 430 had been discovered by police tasks force between Jan. 1 through Dec. 7, said Chris Harrison, chief chemist for the state Crime Laboratory's Illicit Lab Section.
The decrease could be attributed to fewer labs, and to the passage of laws making it more difficult to obtain pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient. But it is also caused by fewer police enforcing meth laws in rural areas, Harrison said.
"I can't stress enough how the decrease in funding from the federal government has impaired enforcement," Harrison said.
The failed federal legislation for meth cleanup guidelines would have required the EPA to work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to create new meth lab detection methods.
It would also have required EPA collaboration with the National Academy of Sciences to research what effects exposure to meth lab chemicals might have on children and first responders.
"The science for detecting (meth labs) is developing, the test procedures are fairly new, there is no dependable study of the long term effects of low-dose exposure," said Shirley Louie, the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services chief environmental epidemiologist. "It's a complicated process; this would've been a step forward."
In 2004, the Arkansas legislature commissioned the Department of Health and Human Services to create cleanup guidelines for homeowners and owners of hotels and apartments where toxic chemical residue has made the dwelling unsafe. Louie drafted the guidelines.
"There's no other place yet where a homeowner can get the question answered, 'What do I do now,'" Louie said.
It is not uncommon for drug programs to feel federal funding pinches, said Arkansas Drug Director Keith Rutledge.
Not enough money is being put toward prevention of drug use, even though it is a lead strategy against methamphetamine, Rutledge said.
Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., acknowledged anti-meth efforts remain underfunded.
"The Congress we're finishing now has a spotty record with methamphetamine," said Pryor, who co-sponsored the Combat Meth Act, the only major anti-meth legislation that was passed.
The Combat Meth Act placed medication with the meth-base ingredient, pseudoephedrine, behind pharmacy counters.
Pryor said Congress restored funding for community anti-drug programs to $411 million, rejecting deeper cuts proposed by President Bush.
"Quite frankly, I'd rather see it in the $500 million or $600 million range," Pryor said.
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