Another place is running out of meth lab clean-up funds. The Columbus Dispatch says that the pool of money that Ohio law-enforcement agencies use to clean up the hazardous waste created by methamphetamine labs will soon run dry. State officials cobbled together about $100,000 after the federal government abruptly ended its long-running program that paid trained crews to dispose of meth waste, but less than $10,000 remains.
With an average cost of $1,800 per cleanup and drug busts nearly every day, the money could dry up this week. With no new money, the cost would fall to local agencies. Rural counties where the drug’s makers run the most rampant are the least likely to be able to foot the bill. “I’m not so sure that anybody’s going to be able to handle that,” said Cmdr. Eric Brown of the Fairfield-Hocking Major Crimes Unit in one of the state’s meth hot spots.