AG KING CALLS METH 'SCOURGE OF OUR STATE'

He Plans New Law Enforcement Unit To Address Problem

SCOTTSBORO - Alabama Attorney General Troy King said a statewide law
enforcement unit will soon be created to address the state's growing
methamphetamine problem.

"Meth is the scourge of our state," King told local civic leaders at a
Scottsboro Rotary Club luncheon Wednesday. "It's a witches' brew that's
killing people, and we're not doing enough about it. We need a better
statewide response to it."

King said he will announce soon how the new unit will coordinate efforts
around the state to shut down meth production and use. "Meth is incredibly
addictive," he said. "People can cook it in their trunks. It's more of a
cottage industry rather than one controlled by drug lords. That makes it
more difficult to stop."

The new unit will look at more training, stiffer penalties and other
changes to provide a drug enforcement program.

Meth has become the state's biggest drug threat, the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration reported.

According to the DEA, DeKalb, Jackson, Marshall and Madison counties were
among seven counties with the worst meth lab problems in the state in 2003.
Law enforcement agents raided at least 60 meth labs in Huntsville and
Madison County in 2004.

King asked local leaders for their help in protecting family values that
are endangered by scam artists targeting the elderly and sexual predators
seeking children on the Internet. "I see kids who have been preyed upon by
these predators and pedophiles, who have robbed them of their innocence,"
he said.

King said the attorney general's office will do its part to expedite
bringing criminals to justice in spite of delays by federal courts.