Give me some drugs! METH matters.

These are my notes from part 2 of a CE class I attended called Mold, Meth, and Radon.  I hope this helps someone.  I know I learned a great deal.  I have already performed over a dozen meth tests, and several came back positive.  I was able to negotiate the price down enough to cover the remediation PLUS $5k.

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Methamphetamine is dangerous and can cause strokes. The dopamine response feels great, and recipes are all over the Internet, but don't try it; the highly probable addiction is life-destroying. The meth epidemic started in California in the 1980's, but by 2002, it was everywhere in the USA. 

Since the federal law changed in 2006 making people show ID at the pharmacy to get get Sudafed, the number of busted meth labs in Utah has gone down from 107 in 2004 to just 1 in 2014. (107, 67, 39, 8, 15, 13, 10, 9, 2, 4, 1 in order of year). These numbers are excellent! But the usage is still way too high.

If you see any red or yellow staining anywhere or holes in the walls from violence then be suspicious.

ALS labs in Murray, Utah is the place where the "meth test" was actually developed. If you'd then expect more meth tests to be done here than in other places, you'd be correct! In fact, these test are rarely run outside of Utah on a regular basis. In Utah the tests are just $47, but outside of Utah, inspectors charge upwards of $500 for these tests.

1.0 micrograms per 100 square centimeters is the legal limit in Utah.  It varies from state to state from .05 g to 1.5 g per 100 square cm, with the most common standard being 0.1 micrograms per 100 sq cm. See this pdf:  Federal EPA meth cleanup guidelines

In Utah, there has been some confusion about when the contamination gets reported so I paid particular attention here.

What is the trigger for reporting to the Health Department? 

• The homeowner or buyer do not have to report meth to the county.
• ALS labs will not report to the county.
• But any public official (Fire, police, etc) that suspects contamination is obligated by law to report the home if they think it might be contaminated, so be careful who you talk to!
• In Utah, the meth cleanup companies that are "Utah certified decontamination companies" must also report to the health department - so be careful who you call if you don't want a red tag on your door!

Once it gets on the Utah Department of Health's contaminated list, then a Utah certified decontamination company is the only one who can certify that a property is "clean" in order to get the house back off the list.  They actually do the testing for the county.

Once it is off the list, according to Utah law, you DO NOT have to disclose that the property ever had meth.   As a real estate agent, I am glad for this.  Imagine how many homes would be permanently stigmatized if this were not the case!

Companies charge as little as $3000 for a proper decontamination.

Use the ALS kit and test most importantly INSIDE the cold air return. This test should NOT be combined with other tests. If you do only one test, this should be it. If you are doing more than one test, then you can combine them: inside furnace, bathrooms, bedrooms (people generally use drugs privately), and other locations.

You can do up to 8 locations with one test swab, but you must note how many test areas you did. With 8, you would note 800 square cm instead of 100 square cm on the test form. The problem with this is you will not know where the contamination was if it comes back positive! So fewer is better.