Former meth labs listed online

Since April, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has listed sites of former drug laboratories on its Web site.

While the list contains only six addresses, it serves as a way for people to find out if they may be renting an apartment or purchasing a home – or even a storage unit – that once was used to make drugs, said Jim Faust, the department’s indoor environmental program manager.

The “Clandestine Drug Laboratory Site Property List” includes only addresses where methamphetamine was once brewed, but any type of drug lab will be listed, Faust said.

“We’re trying to protect the public from renting a home or apartment, buying a house or getting a storage unit that previously was a clandestine drug lab or meth lab,” he said.

The initiative is part of the state Clandestine Drug Lab Cleanup Act, which took effect April 11. Before the law was enacted, Faust said, property owners did not have to clean up a former meth lab site beyond what authorities had already done. After the law enforcement investigation was over, they could re-rent a home or storage unit immediately with no oversight.

Now owners must have the property examined by an industrial hygienist who will then approve it for use again. The property would then be removed from the Web site list.

Property owners have three options for cleanup. They can demolish the site, hire a contractor to clean it up or do the work themselves.

The list is small, Faust added, because campground labs and vehicle labs, which are extremely prevalent in Idaho, are not included in the list.

“If a motor home (that had a meth lab in it) is a rental, it would go on a list,” he said.

And while property owners are supposed to police themselves, Faust said, the law “has no teeth” in enacting penalties on owners who allow occupants to use their property before the state gives the OK on the cleanup and removes the site from the drug lab list.

“It’s on the property owner’s shoulders to make sure the property remains vacant,” he said.