Pot times July 17, 2005

Meth Waste Poses Danger

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1127/a04.html
Newshawk: Kirk

Pubdate: Sun, 17 Jul 2005
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)
Copyright: 2005 Star Tribune
Contact: opinion@startribune.com
Website: http://www.startribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/266
Author: Donna Halvorsen
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH WASTE POSES DANGER

As volunteers cleaned up roadside litter this spring, the state Health Department warned that they might come across the discarded remains of methamphetamine drug labs that could be dangerous if inhaled or touched.

Some counties have been dealing with the meth problem for five years or more.  Meth labs once were largely confined to rural areas, but the problem is moving closer to the Twin Cities, officials say.

"It's not just something people are doing on farms anymore," said Deborah Durkin, an environmental scientist in the Health Department's methamphetamine program who has spoken increasingly to Twin Cities groups about meth in the past year.  "The pattern throughout the Midwest is rural saturation followed by increased numbers of users and meth-makers in urban areas."