Pubdate: Fri, 02 Sep 2005
Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Copyright: 2005 The Salt Lake Tribune
Contact:  http://www.sltrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/383
Author: Dan Eggen, Washington Post
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

400 ARRESTED NATIONWIDE IN FEDERAL CRACKDOWN ON METH

WASHINGTON - Facing growing criticism that the federal government is not 
doing enough to combat methamphetamine use, the Justice Department on 
Tuesday announced the results of a weeklong raid of drug suppliers and 
manufacturers and unveiled a Web site aimed at dissuading teen-agers from 
taking up the drug.

Operation Wildfire, billed as the first nationally coordinated 
investigation to target methamphetamine, resulted in more than 400 arrests 
and the dismantling of 56 clandestine drug laboratories nationwide, 
according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Police and drug agents 
found 30 children in the makeshift labs when they were raided, officials said.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and DEA Administrator Karen Tandy also 
announced the launch of http://www.justthinktwice.com, a teen-oriented Web 
site run by the DEA. The site features graphic pictures of drug users' 
rotting teeth, before-and-after pictures of methamphetamine users and other 
warnings about the perils of methamphetamine abuse. "Some say it's great, 
but it's really your worst nightmare," the Web site says.

Tuesday's news conference marked the second time this month that the Bush 
administration has sought to focus attention on the federal government's 
efforts to contain methamphetamine trafficking and use. Gonzales joined 
White House officials in Tennessee on Aug. 18 to announce the creation of 
another Web site, www.methresources.gov, and a $16 million treatment 
program aimed at those who abuse the drug.

Tandy said Tuesday that the latest methamphetamine arrests show the federal 
government's "commitment to extinguishing this plague."

"Meth has spread like wildfire across the United States," Tandy said. "It 
has burned out communities, scorched childhoods and charred once happy and 
productive lives beyond recognition."

The announcements follow escalating demands from local and state officials 
for more federal help in targeting methamphetamine, a stimulant 
particularly prevalent in poorer and rural communities with few resources 
to combat it.

Methamphetamine poses a significant safety threat to law enforcement 
officials, who often encounter dangerous home laboratories stocked with 
hazardous ingredients like battery acid.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman