By Peter Ruell
The Boston Herald
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Police last week made their first crystal methamphetamine lab bust of the year in Massachusetts , as law enforcement in New England continues its battle against the addictive drug.
The meth lab found in Framingham is the first uncovered by police in New England this year, said Anthony Pettigrew, a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
“I’m not saying there’s not meth in Massachusetts and New England, but it’s more likely the meth people are using, rather than (it being) produced here,’' said Pettigrew, who is based in Boston. “It comes in any way you can think of drugs coming into the region.’'
Framingham police on Tuesday found the purported lab at 70 Howe St. after a garbage bag being picked up by trash haulers erupted in flames. The homeowner, Paul J. Chartier, 34, has been charged with manufacturing methamphetamines with the intent to distribute and illegal possession of OxyContin, prosecutors said.
He is free on $5,000 bail.
Like most of the meth home labs police have found in the New England area in the last several years, the Framingham operation was small and appears to have been intended for personal use.
In 2006, 12 meth labs were found in New England states, including three in Massachusetts. The year before, 16 - five in the Bay State — were put out of business, according to DEA figures. Those numbers are a far cry from massive labs that conquered huge swaths of the Midwest and western states, where 17,000 labs were identified by the early part of this decade.
Those numbers have dropped in recent years, thanks in part to legislation restricting the access to many of meth’s precursor ingredients, particularly medications containing pseudoephedrine, according to Hallie Deaktor, a spokeswoman for the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
Copyright 2007 The Boston Herald