The following resources are written by Carl Brahe and address the problems facing people who own, are thinking of buying or are living in a place that has been polluted by methamphetamine use or manufacture.
Contamination from smoking or making meth can leave behind enough methamphetamine on surfaces and in ventilation system that people and pets can suffer from health problems similar to a chronic meth user. I often hear, "I'm sick, my kids are sick and our dog died." People who live in homes polluted with meth residue can be exposed to large enough daily doses that a UA would indicate them as meth users. Some experts claim that smoking meth once in a room could leave behind enough residue to cause adverse affects.
Smoking and making meth can threaten everyone who happens onto the site. This includes the children, one-year-old babies are most vulnerable, who live in or visit in the future. Meth residue does wear off over time as contact with people and pets and cleaning rubs it away, but enough residue for observable adverse affects has been found in motels years after someone was caught making in the room.
Meth pollution is a complex issue for home owners, buyers, sellers, landlords and real estate related professionals. Over the years I have added resources for people faces with real estate related meth issues. The resources on this site grew to the point of needing their own site. This new site is still my business and I am the one you will reach if you call. I will continue to add resources. The links below lead to www.methinyourhouse.com
Carl Brahe
- Living with Meth Residue Can Make You, Your Family and Your Pets Sick
- Meth Properties are Being Rented and Sold to Unsuspecting Victims
- Second and Third Hand Meth Exposure
- Positive UA Without Using Meth
- Living in an Unremediated Meth House
- How Much Meth Residue is Too Much?
- Meth House Nightmare
- Meth House – Who’s Responsible?
- Police Ignore Meth Labs – No Money to Bust Them
- Dangers to First Responders
- Recognizing Former Meth Labs
- Meth House: Disclosure No Longer Required
- Meth Contamination in Cars
- Meth in Clothing
- High on Meth and Don’t Know It – Test Yourself and Your Children
- Why Test for Meth in Your Home
- Two Kinds of Meth Residue Test Kits
- How to Test for Meth in Your Home or Business
- Testing for Meth Using Spray Starch
- Meth Lab Remediation Rip-off
- Living with Meth Pollution? Test Your Home and Car, or You and Your Children
- One Pot Meth Labs Leave Behind Explosive Trash
- EPA Voluntary Guidelines for Meth Lab Clean-up
- Order Meth Residue Test Kit
- Indiana Methamphetamine Investigation System
- Indiana Department of Child Services
- Indiana Department of Child Services local offices
- Indiana State Department of Health
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency "Voluntary Guidelines for Methamphetamine Laboratory Cleanup" (March, 2013) [PDF]
- Indiana Environmental Health Association
- National Jewish Health studies on methamphetamine exposure
Here's the truth about meth residue testing in Colorado. Most people doing it are neither qualified nor allowed by Colorado state law to perform this type of testing.
From Caoimhín P. Connell, Forensic Industrial Hygienist, www.forensic-applications.com:
Regarding methamphetamine, In Colorado there are three regulatory levels for a property evaluation for illegal drug labs:
Cursory evaluation – ( a voluntary property inspection)
Preliminary Assessment (State mandated assessment following “discovery”)
Decision Statement (State mandated declaration of compliance following “discovery”)
Each level is based on the regulatory status of the property. Based on the information you provided, to Carl, it doesn’t sound like the property has risen to the standard of “Discovery” as defined by Colorado Revised Statutes §25-18.5-103, “Discovery of illegal drug laboratory,” to the extent that there is no valid information from a cognizant authority identifying the property as an “illegal drug lab.”
I suspect you need testing performed pursuant to the real estate transaction statutes found in Title 38, Article 35.7 of Colorado Revised Statutes and we can certainly help you out there as well.
Contrary to recent inaccurate newspaper reports from unqualified consultants, Colorado is a no de minimis limit state, meaning any concentration of methamphetamine identified would trigger the regulations; even for a property that was otherwise compliant. In our case, our methodologies are so sensitive, we could find methamphetamine in virtually any public building or even a stack of dollar bills if we looked hard enough. Therefore, to ensure that we don’t unnecessary trigger the regulations for trace quantities of methamphetamine that are not otherwise significant, we will set a reportable limit of 0.49 micrograms per 100 square centimeters (µg/100cm2).
Due to the number of fraudulent consultants performing these assessments and the serious lawsuits they have caused, Senator Tochtrop introduced a bill in the State legislature in March that will discipline incompetent Industrial Hygienists and fraudulent consultants with a $15,000 per day fine. Although that should take care of some of the problems we have seen in Colorado over the last couple of years, for your protection, I have included my SOQ as required by regulation with this email, so that you know we are authorized to perform this work.
More information on the regulations can be found here: