ATTORNEY GENERAL SAYS AWARENESS, FUNDING NEEDED TO FIGHT METH

A methamphetamine summit held Wednesday at Marian College prompted state
Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager and Tim Warren, who heads the state's
Division of Criminal Investigation, to spread drug awareness by visiting
local media.

The push for awareness comes on the heels of a cut in federal drug
enforcement money, despite an increase in arrests. Funding has been cut
nearly in half, Lautenschlager said, and will affect entities like the Lake
Winnebago Area MEG Unit.

The street drug - once known as "crank" - can render the user
psychologically "addicted" after one use, Lautenschlager said, while
cravings can linger for two or three years.

"It's high-powered speed. That's the draw," she said.

Known as a rural phenomenon because "super" meth labs are located in the
woods in places like northwestern Wisconsin, Missouri and Iowa, the cheap
and easy to make drug is quickly spreading to more populated areas,
Lautenschlager said.

Patrick Kennedy, director of the administration of justice program at
Marian, said, "We've seen what has happened in Iowa and other states. Peg
Lautenschlager is trying to get us out there ahead of the problem before it
takes off here, too."

The session on the Marian campus brought in various law enforcement
agencies from around the state to discuss the spread of meth labs in
Wisconsin communities, new ways to investigate meth cases and how
interagency information sharing can help combat the development of meth labs.

Agents say meth users they bust usually indicate they've been "up" for
seven to 10 days, said Ross Scott, a spokesperson for Lautenschlager's office.

"Some go as long as 30 days. The longest our agent had heard of was 40-plus
days," he said.

Most lab operators are users themselves, Lautenschlager said. About 1000
clandestine labs are busted in the United States each year.

"It's a cheap drug and it diminishes your appetite," she said. "But people
need to realize the stuff they use to make it - it's poison. Agents respond
to these labs dressed in Hazmat suits."

In St. Croix County, where meth use is high, there's been an increase in
both child and domestic abuse cases, Lautenschlager said, because users
become paranoid. Use by teens is also on the rise.

With the elimination of the Byrne Grant funds by next year, Lautenschlager
said the department is fighting to keep resources.

"And we'll keep fighting for the funding," she said.