STAYING ON THE OFFENSIVE

Federal Grant AIDS Sheriff's Office In Attacking The Scourge Of Meth
That's Destroying Space Coast Families

It's called the "poor man's cocaine" and it's destroying lives and
families across the nation, including a rising number along the Space Coast.

It's methamphetamine, or meth, and the Brevard County Sheriff's
Office has rightly made busting the homemade labs where it's cooked a
top priority.

Determined to stay on the offensive, deputies have something new in
their arsenal:

A $450,000 federal grant to boost investigations, hire a prosecutor
for the State Attorney's Office to jail offenders, and provide the
protective clothing and equipment needed to break down the dangerous labs.

Sheriff's officials were smart to pursue the money because Brevard
has become ground zero in Florida's meth battle.

It's No. 1 of the state's 67 counties in busting meth labs, far
exceeding even heavily populated South Florida counties. That's why
Brevard received a larger grant share than any other Florida county.

The drug, which produces a euphoric high, is the devil in disguise.

A powerful nervous-system stimulant, it can be cooked up at home from
common ingredients including drain cleaner, brake fluid and cold medicines.

The labs -- stoked with dangerous chemicals, flammable solvents and
highly explosive vapors -- are hazardous to users and the
neighborhoods where they're often set up.

The drug can trigger aggression, paranoia, irrational behavior,
dependence, psychosis, stroke, and potentially fatal heart problems.

Addicts are leaving a trial of crimes and violence, adding to
crowding problems at the Brevard jail. As parents, their children
suffer abuse and life-threatening neglect.

In Brevard, many of the children are being taken from their parents
and put into foster care, or cared for by relatives.

The plague of meth is a concern for every Space Coast resident.
That's why responsible citizens should help, by reporting any
suspicions about possible labs, with their strange odors and
activity, to law enforcement.

By working closely with deputies and police, residents can help keep
meth users and their labs squarely in the crosshairs.