Meth Lab Children: the Unexpected Drug Victims

More than half the 54 children found during Orange County drug lab busts in 1999 have tested positive for chemical exposure, according to the county’s first methamphetamine task force report.

The finding is a striking example of the harm the county’s methamphetamine trade can cause children, said Phillip J. Falcetti, a task force member and director of the Community Alliance Network, a program of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.

“This is the first time a report of this type has been done,” Falcetti said. It gives an alarming view of how easily methamphetamine labs can be up and running using over-the-counter chemicals, he said.

The report, released Tuesday, identifies the county as a region with a “significant number” of clandestine labs that pose a public health and safety threat, said Walter Allen III, a spokesman for the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement in Orange, which served as coordinator for the task force.

Drug labs are set up in various locations, from motel rooms to homes to storage facilities. The children identified in the report lived near the makeshift labs where chemicals were being used to manufacture methamphetamine.

Allen said children found during drug lab busts are screened and taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Orange for testing.

Manufactured and sold under various names like crystal meth, crank, speed and glass, methamphetamine is relatively inexpensive, costing as little as $40 a gram, and can be smoked, injected, inhaled or swallowed, Allen said.

According to the report, the drug has surpassed cocaine and is second only to alcohol as the most abused drug in the nation. It contributed to 52 deaths in 1998, the report said.

Methamphetamine-related juvenile arrests increased nearly 38%, from 189 in 1998 to 260 in 1999, according to the report.

The task force also represented a first of sorts, Allen said. Usually, task forces are composed of law enforcement personnel, but the county added professionals from public schools and from social service, probation, treatment and prevention agencies.

“We wanted to bring everybody to the table in Orange County and talk about an overall strategy,” Allen said.

State authorities spent $4 million in 1998 to combat the methamphetamine trade, $500,000 of which was spent in Orange County, he said.

Among tactics the task force recommended was the establishment of a 24-hour telephone hotline to anonymously report suspected methamphetamine use and to reestablish a program that added a social service worker for home visits when children are found during lab busts in homes. That program had ended because of lack of funds.

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Meth Lab Seizures

In the first report, a methamphetamine task force has detailed how Orange County is faring in its fight against the drug. Meth lab seizures in 1999, the year the report covered:

Anaheim........ ..16

Brea.............. 6

Buena Park........ 3

Costa Mesa........ 5

Cypress........... 3

Fullerton......... 1

Garden Grove...... 11

Huntington Beach.. 3

La Habra.......... 4

La Palma.......... 1

Laguna Beach...... 1

Lake Forest....... 1

Los Alamitos...... 1

Mission Viejo..... 1

Newport Beach..... 4

Orange............ 4

Placenta.......... 5

San Clemente...... 3

Santa Ana........ 15

Stanton........... 5

Sunset Beach...... 1

Tustin............ 1

Westminster....... 2

Source: Orange County Methamphetamine Task Force