By Kevin McKenzie
The Commercial Appeal
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Methamphetamine lab seizures in Tennessee plummeted for four months this year, but not because makers of the illegal drug cooked any less.
An abrupt end to federal funds used to pay private contractors to clean up meth labs triggered a statewide drop in lab busts, according to Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force statistics.
However, clandestine meth lab seizures have rebounded since July.
The reason: With no new federal money to pay for private contractors, a do-it-yourself system in Tennessee now has police officers like those with the Memphis Organized Crime Unit dismantling and packing up potentially toxic meth labs themselves.
“It’s a much more effective and efficient method,” said Tommy Farmer, director of the state’s Chattanooga-based methamphetamine task force.
Last year in Tennessee alone, $4.5 million in federal funds funneled through the Drug Enforcement Administration was spent on cleaning up meth labs, Farmer said.
“We’re looking at reducing that in millions of dollars,” Farmer said.
With a “HAZMAT Container System” in place since July, Tennessee now is looking at average cleanup costs of about $500, down from $2,500 under the private contractor method, he said.
Sgt. Karen Rudolph, a spokeswoman for Memphis police, described by e-mail how the new process works for the department’s Organized Crime Unit detectives targeting meth.
“Now investigators are responsible for neutralizing and making the labs safe on the scene for transport,” Rudolph wrote.
“Once the lab and its components are made safe, they are transported to a secure location by the West Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force, where they are later picked up by a hazardous material contractor for disposal.
Although the new system has meant increased hazards for the meth teams, “the added risks have not affected our enforcement,” Rudolph wrote.
The statewide meth task force positioned a dozen shedlike central repositories in secure locations for the remains of meth labs. The sites include Memphis, Milan and Dresden in West Tennessee.
Additional equipment and training from the task force also have been provided for the do-it-yourself method.
Before this year, Farmer was not bashful about declaring that Congressional earmarks provided funding for the state’s meth task force, which also supports a dozen specially equipped response trucks and drivers to assist in cleanup.
However, the DEA delivered the bad news that federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) funds for cleaning up meth labs were exhausted by the end of last February with no new funds authorized to come.
“I will tell you that was an absolute shocker to everybody and sent things into an absolute tailspin,” Farmer said.
Clandestine meth lab busts recorded in Tennessee fell to 73 in March, down from 219 for the same month in 2010, and the trend continued through June.
The numbers began rebounding in July with the new container system, reaching a total of 1,099 for the year through August, about 15 percent less than in 2010.
Tennessee is among a half dozen states using the container method, Farmer said.
Arkansas Drug Director Fran Flener said that state is establishing a container program operated through state police.
“We are just real concerned about the safety of our officers,” Flener said. “We want to make sure they are well trained.”
Mississippi is different in two important ways.
First, the number of meth labs seized in Mississippi dropped by two-thirds from July 2010 through June 2011 after the state began requiring a prescription for cold and sinus medicines containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, a necessary ingredient for making meth, according to the state’s Bureau of Narcotics.
Tennessee and Arkansas are among states where lawmakers have recently rejected taking the prescription step.
And to clean up the fewer meth labs found in Mississippi, the state’s Department of Environmental Quality is paying the bills for the time being, said Marshall Fisher, state Bureau of Narcotics director.
“I’m working on that with the DEA, trying to develop a container program because I know it’s not an endless supply of funds,” Fisher said.
Building a new, lower-cost system for cleaning up meth labs, and rebuilding a process for tallying them once federal funds bowed out, weren’t the only major challenge this year for Tennessee’s meth task force. A database tracking consumer cold and sinus medicine purchases, for one example, had major problems during an upgrade.
Farmer said the state task force has about $2 million in federal funds left to carry it through to early 2013, and is hoping to find longer-term fund solutions before then.
Saving millions by having local law enforcement officers rather than private contractors clean up meth labs is one belt-tightening strategy that still allows the crime-fighting job to get done, Farmer said.
“We’re back on pace,” he said.
Copyright 2011 The Commercial Appeal, Inc.