The Meth Problem: Coming Soon to a Home Near You

“Until if affects you, and if you have any kind of relationship to something that this touches, then it affects you 100 percent.”
– Catherine Sutton, Executive Director of the Montgomery County, Virginia Chamber of Commerce, interview with Orlando Salinas, WDBJ7, September 12, 2013, Straight talk about meth in Montgomery County

My reading and my research have led me to conclude that reports on methamphetamine use and meth labs aren’t just part of one more episode in America’s drug hysteria history, one more “War on Fill-in-the-blank” sensationalized by the agenda-serving few for the attention of the many. Simply put: Meth is a real and complex problem.

While a small percentage of Americans use meth, and the market of buyers and sellers is smaller than for other drugs, the impact of this few is beginning to impact the bottom lines of the many, particularly with what Americans have historically considered a fundamental right: property.

• Meth users commit 50-70 percent of property crimes.
• Meth is bad for the real estate business. What happens in the real estate industry (think 2008) can impact the entire economy.
• Property contamination from meth production is so severe the Environmental Protection Agency has issued guidelines for clean-up.
• Meth clean-up costs for property can be $2-$3 per square foot. Who pays for that is getting complicated.
• Toxic meth production byproducts threaten community-held property.

If almost 100% of the crimes in my locale are drug-related and almost 100% of my locale’s drug crimes are meth-related, isn’t it almost 100% likely that a meth addict stole my purse from my kitchen counter?

This photograph of my home with my kitten in the window was taken by Bob Peek.

Meth may well be coming soon to a home near you.