|
Meth In Your Motel Room?
Chattanooga, Tenn. -- Illegal methamphetamine "cooks" are using an unknown number of motels for drug-making labs - leaving a toxic mess behind for unsuspecting customers and housekeeping crews.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration records show that states reported finding drug-making in 1,789 motel and hotel rooms in the past five years — and that's just what authorities found.
Motels can be an attractive alternative for drug makers seeking to avoid a police bust in their own homes. "They can seize the trailer or seize your house but they can't seize a motel room," said Dr. Sullivan Smith, director of emergency services at Cookeville Regional Medical Center in north-central Tennessee.
The volatile labs can be set up in less than four hours inside hotel and motel rooms, according to The American Hotel and Lodging Association. "The smart ones come in about 10 o'clock at night and they make it all night and are out of there by 8 a.m," said Joseph McInerney, president and CEO of the association.
Cleanups cost anywhere from $2,000 to $20,000. Even short-term exposure to vapors and residue where the drug is smoked or cooked can cause eye and skin irritation, vomiting, rashes, asthma problems and other respiratory issues.
Joe Mazzuca, operations manager at Meth Lab Cleanup Co. in Post Falls, Idaho, said cooks often leave behind products such as cat litter used to absorb foul odors. Maids at one Utah hotel found absorbent material left hidden between mattresses and box springs.
"It is very toxic stuff…" says Mazzuca.
|