« Courts - House Judiciary Committee to hold the first congressional hearing on Iqbal Oct. 27th | Main | Ind. Courts - "Arson science on trial in Indiana courtroom: Evidence challenged in 1995 conviction" »

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Ind. Law - "Old meth lab poisons dream home: State recordkeeping largely outpaced by makers of drug"

Angela Mapes Turner reports today in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette that begins:

The headaches, muscle aches and breathing problems began shortly after she moved in, but Julie McCoy Sabatino was slow to blame her house for making her sick.

She was shocked to realize she should: Methamphetamines had been produced in the house, just months before she bought it.

Several years after the state began requiring counties to maintain records, Indiana’s accounting of its meth houses remains patchwork and incomplete.

And because those public records go back only a couple of years in a state where meth has been a major problem for more than a decade, they are no help to people like McCoy Sabatino.

“Indiana has a problem,” she said. “Indiana doesn’t care.”

One method of producing the highly addictive stimulant methamphetamine is to cook it in makeshift labs, using a volatile cocktail of chemicals that produces noxious fumes. Chemical and drug residue – considered hazardous materials – used in meth labs can infiltrate drains and ventilation systems and seep into any porous surface, such as walls, carpets and furniture.

The same state law that in 2005 regulated the sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine – putting the common decongestant medications behind pharmacy counters – also required law enforcement agencies that take down meth labs to report the addresses and some details to county health departments. * * *

Regulations since McCoy Sabatino’s home was contaminated in 2005 mean counties can do more to address the problem – or at least what they can with tight budgets and no teeth for enforcement.

When counties receive reports a meth lab was found, the common practice is to send a letter to homeowners with recommendations for cleanup.

Allen County asks for a certificate of decontamination from a certified inspector that is kept on file at the health department along with reports on where labs are found.

Dave Fiess, the county’s director of vector control and environmental services, said he has compiled the state police’s reports into a rough digital database that he can search when the public asks.

But like most counties, the data is complete only through 2007, when the state established procedures for the counties, with only a few entries before that date.

Other county health departments said their records remain on paper and require a manual search by interested homebuyers or real estate agents.

DeKalb County health inspector Bernie Sukala said he receives those requests occasionally. But even as the piles of paper grow with each year, Sukala said the county has no manpower or time to digitize the records.

“You do the best you can, is what it amounts to,” he said. “In these small rural counties, you do the best you can.”

For more, see this comprehensive ILB entry from July 14, 2009, headed "Illnesses Afflict Homes With a Criminal Past."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 24, 2009 03:11 PM
Posted to Indiana Law