GLASGOW — Hotels and motels are hotbeds for meth lab activity, according to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration records obtained by The Associated Press.
The records show that in 2007, the number of hotel and motel lab busts reported to the administration was 87. In 2008, that number jumped to 127. In 2006, there were 149 labs reported.
The labs reported in 2005 were 461 and 965 in 2004, higher because those were reported before restrictions were placed on purchasing over-the-counter decongestants, which are used as ingredients for methamphetamine.
Those are just the labs reported. The AP reported that many hotels and motels don’t report contaminated rooms because it can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $20,000 to clean up properly. If not cleaned, even short-term exposure to the residue left behind can cause eye and skin irritation, vomiting, rashes, asthma and other respiratory problems.
The issue is something local law enforcement know exists, but they haven’t had many dealings with it.
“Personally, we haven’t seen any, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” said trooper Charles Swiney, Kentucky State Police public information officer for the Bowling Green post. “I know they exist and they’re out there. They use places like hotels and motels so they don’t mess up their own homes.”
Meth cooks will set up labs wherever they can, according to Jeff Scruggs, director of the Barren-Edmonson Drug Task Force.
“They’re going to make it, whether it’s in a motel room or in a shed in a backyard,” Scruggs said. “With this, they go in, rent a room and can be in and out reasonably quick. If they take all of their paraphernalia with them, the motel owners won’t even know what they’ve been doing in there.”
Scruggs and other local law enforcement say they haven’t found any motel-meth labs recently, but that doesn’t mean meth cookers aren’t using local hotels to make thier drugs.
“We’ve had them in the past and I’m sure we’ve got them going on right now,” Scruggs said. “It’s still a problem. How widespread, I don’t know. Our lab busts have been down, but I think they’ll gradually come back.”
“It’s a possibility with any motel you go to,” said Munfordville Police Chief Greg Atwell. “We have never found one in the city, though. There’s too many hills out here to hide in, they don’t need a hotel to hide in. The issue does exist and they will get by you, but we do our best to catch them.”
Cave City Police Chief Billy Minton said meth labs have been a problem in the past, but have not been reported in the last few months.
“We’ve had a few complaints and we’ve followed up on them and found it to be false,” Minton said. “We have made numerous arrests at hotels for drug activity, but we haven’t found any meth labs in hotels recently.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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