Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jun 2005
Source: Arizona Republic (AZ)
Copyright: 2005 The Arizona Republic
Contact:  http://www.arizonarepublic.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Connie Cone Sexton
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

TASK FORCE TO HELP IN FIGHT AGAINST METH

PHOENIX - A new city task force will work with city, county and state
legal officials to deal with the growing problem of methamphetamine
labs in the city.

Members of the City Council's Regional Cooperation and Government
Efficiency Subcommittee voted unanimously Tuesday to create a task
force to go after what Councilman Tom Simplot calls a "drug epidemic"
that is spreading across the city. From June 2004 to June 2005,
Phoenix police shut down 42 meth labs, Simplot said.

Meth use has been linked to an increase in crime, and the drug is
easily created with household chemicals and pseudoephedrine, a
chemical used in Sudafed and other decongestants sold without a
prescription.

Task force members will include Simplot, Councilman Dave Siebert and
members of the community. The creation of the task force comes in the
wake of a new law that limits the sale of the tablet forms of the cold
medicines that can be used to make meth to three boxes at a time.

Simplot said they created the task force to review the situation
because legislators didn't go far enough. In Congress this week, a
bill was introduced that would require customers buying the medicine
to sign a logbook and show identification. The information would be
put into a database to help police track purchases of the drug.

 The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin