Law enforcement officials say meth lab busts have decreased significantly since July, when Operation Meth Merchant brought about the arrests of 45 people in Northwest Georgia.

The sting operation, which included the counties of Walker, Catoosa, Dade, Chattooga, Whitfield and Floyd, was a sweep on businesses that were selling large amounts of products used to make methamphetamine.

Cmdr. Pat Stanfield of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force said that in his agency’s four-county area they have only busted “around eight” labs in August, compared with 15 or more in months previous to Meth Merchant.

“We’ve knocked a hole in it,” said Stanfield, who added that there have been no reports of suspected illegal retail activity since the busts.

Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson agrees that the sting has had an impact.

“With Operation Meth Merchant, in combination with the new laws that went into effect July 1, we have seen a reduction in meth labs in Walker County,” the sheriff said.

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According to the Walker County Sheriff’s Department, there has been a 22 percent decrease in meth arrests from the same period last year.

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The law requires that cold remedy products containing pseudoephedrine, which are used to make meth, be dispensed from behind the counter, as well as limiting amounts that can be purchased.

LaFayette Public Safety Director Charles “Dino” Richardson also agrees that meth lab busts are down, and attributes some of that success to the city ordinance that mandates utilities cut-off for any dwelling where a lab is found.

“That’s frightening them. And with the state law, it’s harder to obtain the substance pseudoephedrine,” he said.

Walter Carter is a building investigator with Dalton-based Environmen-tal Air Quality Pro-fessionals, a firm that contracts with law enforcement and government agencies to assess meth lab damage and sign off on the cleanup procedures.

Carter, who covers a wide area of Georgia and Tennessee in his work, agrees that with the LaFayette meth and utilities ordinance, landlords are quick to comply with the cleanup requirements.

“They don’t want to have a hazardous materials disclaimer put on the title for their property,” he said.

The apparent decline in homemade methamphetamine may explain a sharp rise in arrests for the more potent crystal meth product known as ice, which is primarily smuggled from Mexico.

“We’ve been overrun with it,” said Stanfield. “It’s kind of switched overnight from meth labs to ice.”

Wilson and Richardson both agreed with that assessment, but all are confident that there’s been a turn for the better in the meth war.

“I think it was a success,” said Richardson of Meth Merchant. “I’d like to see more of the operations.”

“I’m very optimistic that we have peaked with our meth labs in this area,” said Wilson.

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