Tennessee police raided fewer methamphetamine labs for several months this year because of federal budget cuts. A state official says agencies couldn’t afford to clean up as many toxic labs, so they didn’t go looking for them.
Last year the federal government paid $4 million to clean up meth labs in Tennessee.
Tommy Farmer leads the state’s meth task force. He says when that funding went away this spring, state and local agencies had no immediate way to take on the cost. So Farmer says agencies became reactive, instead of proactive, and monthly busts dropped by half statewide.
“If they discovered one then we’ll deal with it, and there were many labs discovered and they did deal with them. We don’t have a choice.”
Farmer says losing the federal money also threw a wrench in the system for tracking each bust. And agencies needed a few months to set up a new lab disposal system that saves money by sharing facilities.
“We rolled out this program July 1 and I will tell you, subsequently our lab seizure numbers went right back up to those original levels.”
Even so, Farmer says the state’s total for the year will likely be down 10 percent. But that doesn’t mean dealers are cooking less meth.
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