How has methamphetamine abuse affected child welfare in North Carolina?
In 1999, there were nine labs in our state, mostly in the mountain areas, and a few children were involved. By 2004, 322 labs were discovered, and 124 known children were affected by the labs. Our statistics on and our involvement in meth labs have grown tremendously. We’ve seen an incline in the number of children entering foster care, and we believe that’s directly attributable to meth and other substance abuse addiction. We’re a large state, the Appalachian Mountains are very remote, and families are dispersed miles apart in some areas. When labs were first developed, great big bottles of [bleach] were used, and there were huge amounts of trash and debris, so those were good places to be because you were not easily discovered. But as meth labs have become more sophisticated, and you’re now able to do it out of a shoebox in the trunk of a car, we’re seeing meth in more urban areas, such as Raleigh, and in suburban communities. Even before meth, we didn’t have enough family foster hom
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