OGDEN -- A federal law signed into effect in 2006 is being credited with reducing the number and cost of meth lab cleanups in Weber County, the state and the country.
Lt. Darin Parke, commander of Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force, agrees with a recent report by the inspector general's office indicating that the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 led to a decline in meth production in the United States.
"Utah used to be among the leaders in the nation in meth labs," Parke said. "The (Weber Morgan Narcotics) Strike Force, before I got here (as commander in 2007), would do 15 labs in a year if not more.
"Last year, we had two, so we dropped from more than one every month or few weeks to we haven't had one yet in six months this year."
The law requires identification and restricts the amount of over-the-counter medications containing meth precursor chemicals, such as pseudoephedrine, that can be purchased in a month. It also regulates sales at other outlets such as livestock supply stores, Parke said.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency funded 3,866 lab cleanups in the 2008 fiscal year, its lowest number in a decade, down from a high of 11,790 in 2005 before the Combat Meth Epidemic law was enacted.
"It was a pretty rapid decline (in meth production in Utah). The precursor laws got passed, and it just dropped like crazy," Parke said.
"Now they're regulated on quantity and identification, even possession in some cases. They just can't get them like they used to."
The Justice Department Office of Inspector General report showed 12 DEA-funded meth lab cleanups in Utah in fiscal 2008.
The report does not indicate the level of meth use in an area, only cleanups and costs.
DEA statistics by calendar year show that Utah ranked 10th out of 43 states reporting in 1999 with 241 meth clandestine lab incidents.
That number fell to 54 in 2005, then dropped sharply again to 15 in 2006 when the law was in effect.
In 2007, there were five incidents in the state and in 2008, there were seven.
That doesn't necessarily prove a correlating reduction in the amount of meth being used, just that it's not being made in the U.S., Parke said.
"Most of the meth production has gone straight down to Mexico," he said. "The precursor (chemicals) are easier to get down there, and just the law enforcement issues with Mexico in general, it's easier to produce in superlabs down there that will crank out several pounds in a cook compared to a few ounces up here."
Even so, forcing production out of the country represents a victory of sorts for U.S. law enforcement agencies.
"I don't know if use is on the decline, but the production has definitely been pushed out -- which is progress," Parke said.
"You have all those toxic chemicals, you have homes and other locations that in some cases had to be destroyed. The toxic chemicals that are there are in the walls and everything else in the home that they're cooking that in. Even pushing the labs out is a big step in the right direction."
Meth labs produce phosphine gas, Parke said, the same gas that was produced as a result of pest control efforts and killed two young girls in Layton earlier this year.
"Same thing in a meth lab -- it's the same gas," he said.
"The explosive nature of the other gases that are emitted during the cooking process, a lot of fires, it's just ugly stuff."
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