Pubdate: Wed, 06 Jul 2005
Source: Charleston Gazette (WV)
Copyright: 2005 Charleston Gazette
Contact:  http://www.wvgazette.com/
Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority
Author: Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Mark+Souder
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

METH PROBLEM STRETCHING BUDGETS THIN, SHERIFFS SAY

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The crippling reach of methamphetamine abuse has 
become the leading drug problem affecting local law enforcement 
agencies, according to a survey of 500 sheriff's departments in 45 states.

About 90 percent of the sheriffs interviewed for a National 
Association of Counties survey released Tuesday reported increases in 
meth-related arrests in their counties over the last three years, and 
more than half of those interviewed said they considered meth the 
most serious problem their department faces.

Meth-related arrests have packed jails in the Midwest and elsewhere 
and swamped other county-level agencies, which face additional work, 
such as caring for children whose parents have become addicted and 
cleaning up toxic chemicals left behind by meth cookers. The regions 
the report cites as having the greatest increase in meth arrests over 
the last five years include the upper Midwest, the Southwest and Northwest.

States which reported a doubling of meth arrests over the last five 
years include Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, 
Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South 
Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. States reporting 
similar increases in the last three years were Georgia, Kentucky, 
South Dakota, Iowa and Mississippi.

Sheriff Keith Cain in Daviess County, Ky., which leads the state in 
meth arrests, said that meth has pulled his department away from 
fighting other crimes.

"The other crime not only doesn't go away, but it worsens because 
it's not being dealt with," Cain said.

A component of the survey examining meth's effect on children found 
that 40 percent of child welfare officials in 13 states where welfare 
is a county responsibility said they had removed more children from 
homes because of meth.

Members in Congress, who have heard countless stories about meth's 
hold on communities in their states, have become increasingly vocal 
about the problem and have accused the federal government of moving 
too slow in addressing it.

"It ain't just in Kansas anymore," said Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind. "The 
whole country is screaming. The entire nation is yelling. At what 
point does Washington respond?"

"We're finding out that this is bigger problem than we thought," said 
Larry Naake, executive director of the association. "Folks at the 
state and federal level need to know about this."

The report comes soon after the White House Office of National Drug 
Control Policy restated its stance that marijuana remains the 
nation's most substantial drug problem. Federal estimates show there 
are 15 million marijuana users compared to the 1 million who might use meth.

Dave Murray, a policy analyst for the White House, said he understood 
that the meth problem moving through the nation was serious and 
substantial. But he disagreed that it had reached the state of an epidemic.

"This thing is burning, and because it's burning, we're going to put 
it out," he said. "But we can't turn our back on other threats."

While most in law enforcement recognize marijuana as a problem, those 
costs are far outweighed by those from jailing inmates on meth 
charges, cleaning up makeshift labs and caring for the children left 
behind when addicted parents are sent to prison or treatment, said 
Sheriff Jon Marvel of western Indiana's Vigo County.

Marvel estimates that 80 percent of the inmates in his county's jail 
in Terre Haute are held on meth-related charges. He also points to an 
operating budget that has risen from $800,000 in 1999 to about $3.4 
million last year as the best way to illustrate the stranglehold meth 
has on the county's resources.

"I want it stopped and I want it stopped now, and there is no way 
that's going to happen," Marvel said.
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