I like to browse forums (maybe too much) and one such popular forum is the city-data forum where people from other areas are usually asking questions about living in one area or another. It seems like anytime anyone asks about Palmdale, Lancaster or the Antelope Valley in general the topic of meth is brought up. Here is a prime example:

 Question:

" hello everyone,

i might be moving to palmdale in a couple of months, and i was wondering if theres a website that i can find estate agents, or places to rent, and websites with used cars, dealerships, or with ppl advertising their cars for sale?
also, anyone of you might know if theres a cisco corporation near by? i was told that there is one but when i went to cisco's website i couldnt find any info on this subject.
any places to snowboard near by?
how is palmdale in general? i was only able to read statistics and such. would i be better off living in lancaster, quatz hill or maybe acton?
thank you so much for you help,

leszek"

One reply from  Socal mom:

"The Antelope Valley is the meth production capital of LA county. The place is not getting any better than it was when I lived there 6 years ago. And it was a cesspool then."

 DeserTBob comes to the AV's defense:

"Well, that has changed quite a bit. Large scale meth labs in northern LA county were pretty much mowed down by a DEA sweep a few years back, and the decimation of the Vagos motorcycle gang's Mojave chapter after a deadly war with the Hell's Angels broke their hold on the retail/wholesale methamphetemine trade. However, the "home cooking" of meth in mobile homes continues virtually unabated. A trained monkey can cook that stuff if they have the ingredients. Bigger lab operators simply moved into Kern and San Bernardino counties at that time where enforcement was more lax and population more sparse, and the big meth "superlabs" in Mexico still provide the bulk of the product.

 Swell.

How about this from Yahoo Answers:

Q: What kind of community is palmdale,USA?
My family plans to live and work there.

A: High desert, high crime, low-middle class, meth labs. It's not even nice to pass through on Hwy 14.

Or this from Trulia: 

Q:  Is Lancaster, CA a good area to invest?

A: If you plan on creating a meth lab or just buying meth, then it would be an ideal place to live

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Wow - the AV has some clean-up work to do on their reputation. I suppose that to start they need to clean up the meth problems.