How Meth Affects Your Community

People often forget that meth hurts not just individuals, but families, neighborhoods and entire communities. You might not be using meth or know anyone who is - but it doesn’t mean it’s not affecting you. A meth lab can operate unnoticed in any neighborhood for years, causing serious health hazards to everyone around. Here are some ways that meth might find its way into your life:

Environmental Harm: For each pound of meth produced, five to six pounds of hazardous waste are generated, posing immediate and long-term environmental health risks. The chemicals used to make meth are toxic, and the lab operators routinely dump waste into streams, rivers, fields, backyards and sewage systems, which can in turn contaminate water resources for humans and animals. Also, the poisonous vapors produced during cooking permeate the halls and carpets of houses and buildings, often making them uninhabitable. Cleaning up these sites requires specialized training and costs an average of $2,000-$4,000 per site in funds that come out of the already-strained budgets of state and local police. In addition, property owners are often held liable for the cost of the cleanup, so if a rental landlord finds that his tenant has been operating a meth lab on or in his property, or if a landowner finds that a clandestine lab has property, he could face devastating financial issues.

Puts Children at Risk: Hundreds of children are neglected every year after living with parents who are meth “cooks.” Children who reside in or near meth labs are at a great risk of being harmed in such a toxic environment, due to the noxious fumes which can cause brain damage and the explosive elements that go into making the drug. Cooking meth is extremely dangerous, and labs often catch on fire and explode. A child living inside could overdose from meth left out by parents, suffer from attachment disorders or behavioral problems, be malnourished, physically or sexually abused and/or burned or fatally injured from a fire or explosion.

Orphaned Children: The number of foster care children has been rising rapidly in states that have been hit by the meth scourge. Children are taken from their parents who may have been using or making methamphetamine, and placed in foster homes, crowding an already overflowing system with limited resources. According to an article in The New York Times, it has also become difficult to attract foster parents for these children because they often have many behavior problems. For example, they can’t sleep at night since they are used to sleeping on a floor and they often have not been toilet trained due to the neglectful nature of their upbringing. This overwhelming influx of cases has been suffocating social workers, leaving them desperate for help.

HIV/AIDS: On meth, users can feel hypersexual and uninhibited, often forgetting to use protection. Also, since meth can be administered intravenously some users opt for dirty needles. These acts of carelessness can lead to the transmission of serious and deadly diseases, such as hepatitis, HIV and AIDS.

Hospitals and Burn Units: Meth production is a dangerous and illegal business that takes place in living spaces - from kitchens to basements to hotel rooms. The materials that are used to produce the drug are toxic and often flammable and any mistakes can result in an explosion or injury to not just the meth cook, but their families as well. These chemical burns are tough to treat, and extremely expensive. Much of the care in these specialized units goes uncompensated, which puts a great financial strain on the hospitals and state medical programs.

Crime: Meth labs along with the selling of the drug can breed crime, including burglaries, thefts and even murder. Both teenagers and adults addicted to the drug and who have no income to pay for their habit, may steal valuables from their own homes or even their friends’ homes. High on meth, there’s no telling what a person would do if provoked - people have been killed for not owing up to a drug payment or coming through on a transaction. This type of crime requires a great deal of attention from the police, for which a town may not have the funding or the resources to spare.

Reprinted with permission from The Partnership for a Drug-Free America