METH EPIDEMIC HAS BINGAMAN'S ATTENTION

CARLSBAD - Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., met Monday with members of the
Carlsbad Community Anti-Drug/Gang Coalition and local law enforcement
officers to get input on how methamphetamines are affecting Carlsbad
and to discuss ways the government can assist in combating meth production.

Bingaman spoke about two bills he is co-sponsoring, including the
Combat Meth Act and the COPS Reauthorization Act. The Combat Meth Act
is a bipartisan bill aimed at curbing methamphetamine production by
requiring stores to move pseudoephedrine, a primary ingredient in
methamphetamine, behind pharmacy counters. The COPS Reauthorization
Act would provide $1.15 billion to continue the Community Oriented
Policing Services and help law enforcement hire police officers and
purchase new equipment.

"We're going to try to get both of these bills passed," Bingaman said.

Local law enforcement officers told Bingaman one of the most positive
developments locally in fighting drugs was the development of Mayor
Bob Forrest's Carlsbad Community Anti-Drug/Gang Coalition.

"It (drug sales) is not a police problem - it's a community problem,"
Pecos Valley Drug Task Force Commander Robert Sullivan said, noting
the community is finally playing a role in the war on drugs.

Eddy County Sheriff Kent Waller said he agreed with Sullivan that the
community coalition has tried to educate all facets of the community
on the problem. While sometimes communities push to make changes
occasionally, Waller said most times after six months, such efforts
generally die. This has not been the case with the community
coalition, he said.

"The coalition stepped out and brought the community together,"
Waller said. "The most positive thing is the interaction."

County Commissioner Janell Whitlock, a former Carlsbad municipal
judge, said the best measurement for the community coalition is how
long it has been going and how many people are still actively involved.

"I feel the coalition is proactive rather than reactive," she said.

Eve Flannigan, a member of the community coalition, said a study of
local teens last year allowed the coalition to see where problems
are. Bullying, drug use and the age of first drug and alcohol use
among Carlsbad teems were much higher than the national average , she said.

Police Chief Darrin McGilvray said the addition of school resource
officers in Carlsbad schools has helped. "We've seen a tremendous
turnaround at the schools," McGilvray said.

Bingaman said Carlsbad and Eddy County may be ahead of the state and
the rest of the country in developing a community coalition to
address drug problems, but he had several questions. He said he was
interested in knowing whether meth in Eddy County is home grown or
coming over the Mexican border, whether meth was the main drug
problem in the area and what is being done in the schools.

"It doesn't have the attractiveness of some other drugs," Bingaman
said, noting that methamphetamine is particularly hard on the health of users.

But Sullivan said the reason meth is more attractive to users is that
the high lasts for days. For the same cost that a user could be high
for 30 minutes on cocaine, a meth user could be high for two to three
days, he said.

Sullivan said, "Meth is our No. 1 problem."

Sullivan said in 2003-04 meth seizures increased in this area by
1,000 percent, outpacing the rest of the state. Most methamphetamine
comes across the border, he said, being manufactured in Mexico in
large, highly pure quantities.

Meth created in small laboratories in New Mexico tends to be about 25
percent pure, Sullivan said, while the drugs created in Mexico are
generally 80 percent pure or better. Large drug organizations in
Mexico that once specialized in marijuana or cocaine have increased
their offerings to include methamphetamine, he added.

Prices of methamphetamine have dropped as the supply over the Mexican
border has increased, Sullivan said, with an ounce costing $2,400 in
2000, but now only $800.