What are the Community Costs from Methamphetamine in the Flathead Valley?
• YOUR tax dollars go to clean up lab sites • YOUR property value decreases • YOUR tax dollars incarcerate and prosecute • Police Officers are at higher risk of being injured or killed while investigating a methamphetamine lab or user • Robberies, vandalizing and stealing are increased due to usage and need to support the addiction • YOUR tax dollars go toward investigating child neglect/abuse • YOUR tax dollars house the children in foster care • Economic costs fall on local, state, and federal governments, which must allocate additional resources for social services, treatment, prevention, research, and law enforcement. Unlike other drug busts, cleaning up meth labs is an extremely costly and risky business. Because of the volatile and dangerous nature of the chemicals used to make methamphetamine, specially trained hazardous material companies contracted by law enforcement agencies must clean up meth labs and the average cleanup, after just two batches of meth are made, costs $25,00
