Drugs pose dangers well beyond the harm they cause to those who use them. With Earth Day on April 22, the Partnership is shedding light on the ways illicit drugs can impact our environment.

Did You Know?

• Manufacturing one pound of methamphetamine creates five pounds of toxic waste. Chemical byproducts from meth are found in parks and forests and can linger in soil and groundwater for years, posing immediate and long-term environmental health risks. The number of meth labs has been decreasing since 2005, but meth cooks are finding new ways to produce this dangerous drug in smaller mobile labs. The chemicals are highly toxic, and waste dumped into streams, rivers, fields, backyards and sewage systems can contaminate water resources for humans and animals.

• Coca plants, the source of cocaine, are grown in the rainforests of Colombia. Nearly 500,000 acres of Colombian natural forest are destroyed every year, mainly due to the plantation of coca plants, and the primary cause of air pollution in the Colombian jungle is the burning of forest to make way for coca plants. The production of two pounds of coca paste generates 1,300 pounds of trash and contaminates 200 gallons of water. Consequently, for every one gram of cocaine consumed, 43 square feet of Columbian rain forest is destroyed.

• Approximately 60 percent of outdoor marijuana cultivation in the United States takes place on America’s public lands where growers are less likely to be discovered because of their remote location. This comes at a high cost to the environment: for every acre of forest where marijuana is grown, 10 acres are damaged by fertilizers and other toxic chemicals. (In 2007 alone, an estimated 756,000 pounds of illegal pesticides and fertilizers were used to grow marijuana; In other words, for every 11.5 marijuana plants grown, it’s estimated that 1.5 pounds of illegal pesticides and fertilizers are used.) Between 2007 and 2008, 700 marijuana growing sites were found in California’s national forests and parks. These sites are riddled with dead deer and bears, victims of poison growers use to keep animals away.