ASHFORD, Wash. – The growing national trend of drug makers’ setting up their methamphetamine-making operations in national state forests and other areas not heavily patrolled by state and federal law enforcement agents and local police has created dangers for the general public as well as law enforcement officers and other first responders.
Over the past year, according to an Associated Press report, the number of busted meth labs in Washington state increased tenfold over the past year. According to a Department of Natural Resources environmental expert, 20 active meth labs were found on state forest land during the past year, whereas only about two active meth labs per year were found on the land from 1996 to 1999. The U.S. Forest Service found 107 meth labs and dump sites in national forests in 1999. That figure jumped to 488 last year.
The hazards these meth laboratories present include the contamination caused by the dumping of caustic and toxic by-products, many of which are highly flammable and explosive, on the ground and into nearby bodies of water. Also, meth cookers generally are aggressive and sometimes come out shooting.
For more information on-line, consult the following:
o U.S. Forest Service: http://www.fs.fed.us
o Mark Twain National Forest: http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/marktwain
o Washington State Department of Natural Resources: http://www.wa.gov/dnr,/a>
o Federal Drug Enforcement Agency information about meth: http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/meth.htm (Source: Rebecca Cook, Associated Press, dailynews.yahoo.com, May 14, 2001)
