Pubdate: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 Source: Seattle Times (WA) Copyright: 2004 The Seattle Times Company Contact: http://www.seattletimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409 Author: Jennifer Sullivan, Times Snohomish County bureau Cited: Lead on America http://www.leadonamerica.org/ Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) HEALTH DISTRICT TO PROVIDE NEWS ON FORMER METH LABS Shutting down a methamphetamine-making operation can be a high-profile event, with a large number of police officers and health-district personnel responding to the property. But it's not uncommon for people living near meth labs to be unaware of what is going on, said Cmdr. Pat Slack of the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force. Slack said that because most of these local operations are in rural areas, typically in unincorporated Snohomish County, they "are easier to conceal." But information on former drug houses will become easier for residents to access in the next several weeks. Gary Hanada, a section manager of the Snohomish Health District's environmental-health division, said neighbors and prospective home buyers who want to learn whether there is a contaminated drug house in certain neighborhoods will be able to find this type of information on the district's Web site by the end of next month. Snohomish Health District Information on properties contaminated with the chemicals used to make methamphetamine will be posted on the district's Web site, www.snohd.org (http://www.snohd.org), by the end of next month. "(It's) to inform people who are renting or buying places that the property has been determined contaminated," Hanada said. The information will be available on the Snohomish Health District's Web site. The drug-laboratory information, which has not yet been posted on the site, will have a photo and address of the house, motel room, vehicle or property deemed contaminated. Many contaminated properties are already posted on the state Department of Health's Web site. Listings include addresses and tax-parcel information. Hanada said that after a property has been cleaned to meet state standards, it will be removed from the health district's site. The state Health Department has a strict mandate on how meth houses are cleaned. Once a home is cleaned, toxicology tests must determine that it contains no more than 0.1 microgram of methamphetamine per 100 square centimeters. A microgram is one-millionth of a gram. A packet of Equal, as a comparison, contains 1 gram of the sugar substitute. Slack said his office often gets calls from prospective home buyers who want to know if there has been a meth-making business on a property. Unless a health officer has deemed the property uninhabitable, Slack said his office cannot give the caller any information. Methamphetamine production continues to plague the county. The Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force and the Snohomish Health District have investigated more than 100 meth laboratories over the past two years. The number does not include the nearly 50 sites where toxic drug-making chemicals have been dumped. After identifying a property that has been contaminated with meth, the Snohomish Health District posts a notice on the property and flags the title of the home, motel, vehicle or other site. But according to neighborhood activist Susan York, this often doesn't help notify neighbors of properties deemed uninhabitable. "A lot of times they (neighbors) don't know what to look for," said York, who started an anti-drug group, Lead on America, after fighting to close a meth house in her Mukilteo neighborhood. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake