Pubdate: Wed, 06 Jul 2005
Source: Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City, UT)
Copyright: 2005 Deseret News Publishing Corp.
Contact:  http://www.desnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/124
Author: Dennis Romboy, staff reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Note: Generation Meth six-part series
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595104726,00.html

METH ARRESTS SOAR

Only Arkansas Matches Utah's 100% Increase

In a six-part series, the Deseret Morning News examined how
methamphetamine addiction and meth-related crime is burdening Utah
courts, prisons and social services and devastating families.

Methamphetamine-related arrests in Utah doubled the past year - the
highest rate of increase in the nation, according to a new report.

A National Association of Counties survey of 500 law enforcement
agencies showed Utah and Arkansas as the only states where
meth-related arrests went up 100 percent over the past 12 months.

"How come that doesn't surprise me?" said Marjean Searcy, coordinator
of the Salt Lake Meth Initiative.

NACo released its survey results Tuesday in a report titled "The Meth
Epidemic in America." Four Utah police agencies participated in the
survey, but the NACo would not identify them.

Narcotics officers have become much more efficient in working
drug-related crimes, Searcy said.

Utah's dramatic increase in meth-related arrests goes against what
appears to be a slowing trend in the nationwide meth epidemic.

The NACo asked counties in 45 states about the percentage increase in
arrests during the past five years, the past three years and the past
year. While 88 percent reported increases in the five-year period,
only 67 percent reported increases the past year.

Utah and Arkansas were the only states to report 100 percent increases
over all three periods.

Methamphetamine abuse is Utah's biggest drug problem, especially among
women, the majority of whom have young children.

Salt Lake Police Sgt. Ryan Atack, who heads the narcotics squad, said
meth use hit epidemic proportions in Utah seven years ago.

"I don't know that it's gotten any worse," he said. "It's still our
number one problem."

The Deseret Morning News, in a six-part series called "Generation
Meth," last November examined how meth addiction burdens courts,
prisons and social services and devastates families and children.

Deseret Morning News graphic

Nearly 46 percent of women arrested in Salt Lake City test positive
for meth, according to the National Institute of Justice's arrestee
drug abuse monitoring data. The city ranks third highest in the
country behind Honolulu and San Diego.

Among men arrested in Salt Lake City, 26 percent tested positive for
the drug in 2003, the last year for which statistics are available.

The NACo survey results seem to be at odds with national drug-control
policy, which focuses on marijuana, given its role as a gateway drug.

"On the national level, the federal government still considers
marijuana as the number one drug problem in America, but county law
enforcement officials have a different perspective on this ranking,"
according to the report.

The NACo survey of police agencies found:

* 58 percent say meth was their largest drug problem.

* 87 percent report increases in meth-related arrests the past three
years.

* Half estimated that one in five current jail inmates were
incarcerated for meth-related crimes.

* Meth-related robberies and burglaries went up 70 percent, while
domestic violence increased 62 percent.

Atack said his team seizes more marijuana each year, but that the drug
does not cause near as many problems as meth.

"We don't see families torn apart. We don't see the violence. We don't
see the robberies and the burglaries," he said. "Meth is definitely
worse on society than (marijuana)."

In addition to conducting surveys on the criminal effects of meth, the
association looked at the pervasive impact meth has on children,
questioning 303 county child welfare agencies in 13 states. About 40
percent of those agencies say meth abuse accounts for most children in
foster care or other out-of-home placements. Almost 60 percent say the
drug makes family reunification more difficult.

Utah was not among those states surveyed because county government
does not provide child and family services. But the Utah Department of
Human Services is well acquainted with meth addiction, saying it is a
significant factor in the number of children being removed from their
homes.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin