Police in Calhoun County, Michigan, are reporting that as snow melts in local wooded areas, methamphetamine dump sites are “popping up like spring flowers.”
People finally out and about after a long, cold winter are finding the dump sites and calling police about waste in the woods or on the side of the road in deserted areas.
“Under the leaves, and with the snow melting, there are things sitting out there since winter and we are now just finding the stuff,” Battle Creek Officer Scott Marshall told the Battle Creek Enquirer.
“It is in urban neighborhoods and all the way to rural neighborhoods,” officer Marshall added. “There is no place this drug hasn’t touched.”
Meth has grown in the area, police report, and many people are injured in making the stuff. Many of the homemade labs end in tragedy as careless meth cooking often results in explosions, even killing those hoping to cash in on the crime.
“Over the last five years Calhoun County has reported 155 meth labs in 2010; 32 in 2011; 154 in 2012; 114 in 2013; and 113 in 2014,” the Battle Creek paper reported.
But successful meth cooking results in dangerous waste that can’t be easily disposed of. Consequently, criminals end up dumping meth waste in secluded areas.
Police warn local citizens who might find the dump sites not to touch the poisonous waste but instead to call police immediately for proper disposal.
“Don’t move it,” Detective Bryan Gandy said. “Don’t bring it back to the house thinking it will make it easier for the police. We don’t mind climbing down into the ditch.”
Michigan isn’t alone in the growth of meth. A recent bust in Vanderburgh County, Arizona, was evidence that the problem in the Southwest has grown to levels never before seen.
In Indiana, the problem has even made travel hazardous for vacationers as fly-by-night meth labs are being set up in motel rooms, endangering travelers.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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