After a 2010 that was "a record-breaking year for all categories of meth-related activities," and a 2011 that's showing similar potential, the Indiana State Police said it recently lost a key source of funding in its battle against the highly addictive drug.
According to 1st Sgt. Niki Crawford of the state police, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has for years paid the bill for disposing of the hazardous remnants of meth labs.
The DEA ran out of money Feb. 22, said Crawford, a member of the state police meth suppression section.
Now Indiana and other states have to foot the bill, and officials here are scrambling to find funding or make room in their budgets to pay for meth lab disposals.
"Nobody took any money away from us," said Crawford. "Unfortunately, we were left with a very large bill added to what we already pay."
Crawford said 2010 was a year like no other for meth-related activity. While the 1,346 meth labs seized in 2010 were only three more than 2009, it was far greater than the average of 816 labs busted a year between 2000 and 2008.
Vanderburgh County had the most meth-lab busts in the state in 2010 with 95, up from an average 36.5 between 2006 and 2009.
The simpler one-pot method of manufacturing meth is the reason for the notable rise in meth activity, Crawford said.
Lost help
When police seize a meth lab, they gather evidence and call clandestine lab-certified officers to dispose of it.
Lab components are packaged and stored at state police posts, and a company the state contracts with picks up the remnants about once a week.
The DEA received funds from Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, and a portion of that was used for a pool of money that every state could draw from for meth lab disposal.
But in an effort to rein in spending, Crawford said, Congress has ended that earmark for the DEA.
"Congress was looking to cut the budget; this money was not reallocated. The DEA ran out," said Crawford. "Now it falls on state and local police agencies to cover that cost."
Response
Although the DEA well has dried up, the state police here are not panicking. Crawford said state police funds should cover disposal costs until about May 1.
"In the immediate, we're OK," Crawford said. "And we are meeting next week to look at more long-term solutions."
Those solutions will likely include measures to cut costs from the state police budget and seek appropriations from the Legislature.
The DEA covered some $600,000 in disposal costs for Indiana in fiscal 2010 (Oct. 1, 2009 to Sept. 30, 2010).
In addition to funds, state and state police officials are also looking at ways to prevent meth labs. Crawford said there's legislation being debated to make pseudoephedrine, a key meth ingredient, a prescription drug, as it was before 1976.
Mississippi and Oregon have passed such a law and have, respectively, seen a 68 percent drop and 72 percent drop in meth labs seized after six months of implementation, Crawford said.
"It has been shown that placing pseudoephedrine back as a scheduled, controlled substance is a very strong preventive measure," Crawford said.
Worst case
The worst-case scenario, she said, is for disposal costs to fall to local governments.
"It's kind of our issue," said Crawford, noting that state police were involved in 97 percent of meth labs seizures last year.
"We're trying to deal with it as much as we can and take the burden off local governments. As a last resort, we would look for funding sources to come back from the locals."