Micro meth labs put Delaware neighborhoods at risk

There were a couple of police cars in front of the brick house four doors away from Ron Patterson’s as he and his wife drove by, but he didn’t pay them much mind. After he left again, his wife called: fire trucks had shown up.

Patterson, a 25-year volunteer with the Wilmington Manor Fire Department, put two and two together. “I kind of knew what was going on,” he said. “Just from what she was telling me ... I was like, ‘Well, it sounds like a meth lab to me.’”

It was. In May, a 25-year-old neighbor of the Pattersons was arrested after New Castle County police uncovered a methamphetamine lab operating in the man’s bedroom.

“It was shocking,” said Patterson, 40. “We grew up here. I’ve known the father since I was a kid.”

Patterson said he didn’t feel threatened. But his neighbor did. “It could catch fire,” said Fred Maldonado, 68. “I was surprised. I thought meth labs needed a lot of room.”

Not any more. Police say Delaware is seeing an increasing number of small, micro-production methamphetamine labs that serve but a few users yet retain much of the volatility of larger labs – like the large, raw, rural operations depicted in the TV series “Breaking Bad.”

Every one of the 44 charges levied by police around the state for the manufacture of meth since 2011 has involved a portable lab, according to State Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Shavack.

The micro-labs grew out of a nationwide crackdown on the big, smelly labs. “The last big lab we had was probably 15 years ago right here in Dover,” said Jamie Bethard, an environmental scientist and hazardous materials expert with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

Now, small-scale domestic production dominates, using easy-to-obtain raw materials such as two-liter soda bottles and over-the-counter cold medicines that are relatively simple to obtain. Meth cooks hire “smurfers” – people who roam multiple drug stores to buy large amounts of such medicines, bit by bit. Recipes are readily available online.

The meth problem in Delaware pales in comparison to heroin use, which has skyrocketed in recent years, particularly since August 2012, when a new state law aimed at curbing prescription drug use went into effect, limiting access to unprescribed legal sedatives.

The dangers

What most concerns authorities regarding meth abuse are the public safety issues posed by users, who will do anything to get the drug, and the portable manufacturing labs – called “one-pot” or “shake-and-bake” operations.

“It’s still highly dangerous to the public, highly dangerous to first responders,” said Bethard.

The danger was underlined during an Oct. 1 arrest in the Fairwinds community of New Castle. During a probation check, four officers were treated at Christiana Hospital after being exposed to a meth lab – one of them complaining of a scratchy throat and a chemical taste in the mouth.

Terry Neal, 51, was charged with possession with intent to manufacture meth, maintaining a drug manufacturing property, tampering with physical evidence, four counts of 2nd-degree reckless endangerment and other charges, said Cpl. John Weglarz Sr., a police spokesman. Neal was caught with 34 grams of meth, police said.

Yet most meth-related incidents in the state have taken place in Kent and Sussex counties, Shavack said, citing research by the Delaware Information and Analysis Center. The relative concentration is due to factors beyond the apparent demise of the large manufacturing operations, he said.

Here, the drug is now predominantly manufactured in small labs – a two-liter bottle, tubing and precursor chemicals and ingredients are pretty much all that’s required, he said – a lot of debris and byproducts are produced that have to be discarded somewhere. Many locations investigated by police, Shavack said, have had outbuildings filled with waste products such as bottles filled with white residue, cans and the like.

In addition, he said that while heroin is available anywhere in the state, it’s not as readily available in rural areas. And while the heroin trade is a greater logistical challenge that requires using vehicles and people to move the drug from point to point, meth in the state is typically “homegrown” and consumed close to the source.

“The addicts and the users have found it easier to make themselves,” Shavack said. “So you don’t have to go anywhere to get it.”

The process is relatively simple. And given the portability, these smaller labs pose a greater danger to the general public.

“Technically, you could carry an active meth lab in your backpack while you’re walking around,” Shavack said. “Or in the trunk of your car.”

Police, and first responders such as Bethard, face the consequences.

Bethard serves on the teams of scientists, environmental police officers and other specialists that accompany police and, ultimately, “render safe” and take down the labs. Their equipment and outfits vary, depending on the type of lab. With a “one-pot” operation, the team wears traditional fire protective gear.

“Our No. 1 hazard at that point is a flash fire,” said Bethard. “Is the device actually failing, becoming overpressured, igniting and throwing a big fireball at you?”

Mobile one-pot operations bring that same hazard to the public, he said.

“You’re sitting next to somebody at a traffic light,” Bethard said. And “if they got a shake-and-bake and the thing goes off in the car and there’s an instant fireball inside their car, that individual could step on the accelerator, try to jump out of the car while they’re on fire. It’s highly dangerous.”

More arrests

Meth-related arrests in the state rose from 23 in 2011 to 40 in 2012, and had reached 39 through the end of August, the most recent month for which State Police could supply statistics. Delaware has not seen meth-related incidents this high since 2003, when 42 arrests occurred.

More specifically, meth lab busts had fallen to a handful from 2008 through 2011, according to Drug Enforcement Administration and State Police records. Then, in the second half of 2012, apprehensions started piling up.

Beginning with a July 30 State police bust at a Harrington hotel, 12 were recorded in the year’s final six months. This year, a total of 22 meth manufacturing charges had been filed through August statewide.

The state has launched two initiatives that take direct aim at methamphetamine use. One of the bills Gov. Jack Markell signed into law Aug. 27 makes it a felony to operate a clandestine laboratory intended for illegal drugs, particularly methamphetamine.

And “smurfers” will now have a much harder time shopping various locations to buy pseudoephedrine in Delaware. The other new law requires pharmacies and retailers to report all over-the-counter pseudoephedrine products to the National Precursor Log Exchange System. The sellers are prohibited from completing the sale if NPLEx issues a “stop sale” alert.

State sales records of the drug will also be forwarded weekly to the Drug Diversion Unit of the Delaware State Police, and provide state law enforcers with real-time access to NPLEx.

Still, the enforcement, medical, treatment and government communities are concerned that the recent wave of arrests could be the leading edge of something much bigger.

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” said Marc Richman, a psychologist and assistant director for Community Mental Health and Addiction Services for the state’s Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. “It’s worrisome. I know I’ve been waiting for is to see if meth was going to start making its way onto the East Coast.

“We need to be very vigilant.”

Contact William H. McMichael at 324-2812 or bmcmichael@delawareonline.com. Contact Terri Sanginiti at 324-2771 or tsanginiti@delawareonline.com