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The investigative story on the Eyewitness News the other night about little Baby Mac ought to raise the community's collective ire.
The property his parents purchased not long ago once housed a meth lab. The Salt Lake County Health Department had declared the house fully decontaminated and safe for habitation. Yet KSL reporters using a meth-testing kit discovered toxic meth residue in Baby Mac's bedroom - at 14 times the level considered safe.
Why should the community be enraged?
Because meth use continues to proliferate with such horrendous impacts on users of the destructive drug, as well as completely innocent victims such as Baby Mac. It remains a terrible scourge.
And because health departments charged with certifying the safety of former meth dwellings may not be as thorough in their declarations as they ought to be.
And because Utah lawmakers several years ago buckled under pressure from the real estate lobby and passed a measure that doesn't require the disclosure of whether a property once housed a meth lab.
In KSL's view, the battle against meth must go on unabated. Health departments certainly must be more thorough in their evaluations of meth houses. And legislators ought to revisit the disclosure law and make the changes necessary to protect innocent victims like Baby Mac.
