Pubdate: Fri, 24 May 2002
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2002, The Tribune Co.
Contact:  http://www.tampatrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Author: Deborah Alberto of the Tribune
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

POLK NABS ANOTHER METH-MAKING SUSPECT

Health Officials Tie Drug to Hepatitis A

WINTER HAVEN - Polk County officials claimed another victory Thursday 
in the war on methamphetamine abuse.

Sheriff's officials arrested Victor Anthony Vivi of Winter Haven just 
after 3 a.m. and said they found items used to make and use 
methamphetamine, including muriatic acid, acetone, pipes and 
syringes, in his car and home.

Polk is known in law enforcement circles as the methamphetamine 
capital of Florida. And an outbreak of hepatitis A that officials 
call the worst epidemic in Polk in the past 10 years has been linked 
to methamphetamine abuse.

Vivi was booked into the Polk County Jail and charged with 
manufacturing/ trafficking in methamphetamine and possession of a 
controlled substance, officials said. Vivi was being held Thursday. 
His bail was set at $16,000. The investigation continues, and more 
arrests are expected, sheriff's officials said.

``This morning's arrest and seizure is just another in our ongoing 
battle to target suppliers in combating methamphetamine,'' sheriff's 
Maj. Francis Hart said.

Hart said the sheriff's office has broken up at least five labs in 
five months. And while the sheriff's office focuses on getting 
traffickers off the streets, the county Health Department is intent 
on resolving the addiction issue.

Methamphetamine is not just a drug problem, it's a health issue, said 
health department director Daniel Haight. Haight estimates 60 percent 
of hepatitis A cases can be linked to methamphetamine.

Hepatitis A can be spread in a number of ways, including through 
shared needles, sex and unsanitary living conditions. That puts users 
and their close contacts at risk, Haight said.

The county since Jan. 1 has had at least 165 confirmed cases of 
hepatitis A, compared with 163 for all of last year.

``We continue to encourage drug users to get the hepatitis A vaccine 
and to get help for their problem,'' he said.

Polk is a haven for methamphetamine production because it has lots of 
rural areas where labs can be set up, its location near major cities 
and a good highway network for distribution, authorities say.
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