Did your house used to be a meth lab?
July 14, 2009 at 4:48 pm by Mara Shalhoup in NewsIf so, you’re screwed.
A frightening story in today’s New York Times explores the toxic toll on families who — unbeknownst to them — moved into former meth houses.
“The meth lab home problem is only going to grow,” said Dawn Turner, who started a Web site, www.methlabhomes.com, after her son lost thousands of dollars when he bought a foreclosed home in Sweetwater, Tenn., that turned out to be contaminated. Because less is known about the history of foreclosed houses, Ms. Turner said, “as foreclosures rise, so will the number of new meth lab home owners.”
It can cost $5,000 to $100,000 to decontaminate a former meth house. One Texas woman lost pretty much everything after buying one such home:
“It makes you crazy,” Ms. [Francisca] Rodriguez said. “Our credit is ruined, we won’t be able to buy another house, somebody exposed my kids to meth, and my dog died.”
Only one state, Colorado, provides federal funds to help innocent property owners clean up meth-infested homes. As for the Peach State …
In other states, like Georgia, landlords and other real estate owners have fought a proposed cleanup law.
Thanks, Georgia.
July 15th, 2009 at 8:49 am
It has long bothered me that “lab” is used to broadly describe the DIY makers of today’s version of bathtub gin. It devalues the word and overstates the maker’s rig.
Wouldn’t ‘Meth Shack’ more aptly describe the workspace?
July 15th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Sign says.. Woo… stay away fools, ’cause meth rules at the Meth Shack.