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News (Media Awareness Project) - US: Meth Hits Local Budgets
Title:US: Meth Hits Local Budgets
Published On:2005-07-24
Source:Daily World, The (LA)
Fetched On:2008-08-20 01:36:06
METH HITS LOCAL BUDGETS

WASHINGTON - The methamphetamine epidemic is draining money and
resources from communities large and small.

Local officials who had not even heard of the drug five years ago are
being forced to shift budget priorities to pay for everything from
dental care for meth-addicted jail inmates to foster care for
children whose parents have been arrested for running meth labs.

The additional financial burden comes at a time when many states are
struggling to balance their budgets and when the federal government
is cutting back funding for local drug-fighting programs.

The Bush administration, which has recommended cutting money for
local anti-meth programs, does not have national figures on the
drug's economic toll.

"We just don't track this data," said Jennifer DeVallance, a
spokeswoman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

However, officials in communities where meth is a problem have a
clear idea of what it's costing them.

A few examples:

Meth cost Portland and the rest of Multnomah County, Ore., $102.3
million in 2004, according to an economic analysis by ECONorthwest.
That amounts to $363 per household in a county where the average tax
payment was $355.

Meth costs Indiana at least $100 million a year, including $4.5
million spent cleaning up former meth labs, according to the state's
Methamphetamine Abuse Task Force.

"It impacts lives in so many more ways than we've seen happen with
other drugs," said Colleen Landkamer, a county commissioner in Blue
Earth County, Minn.
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