METHAMPHETAMIME ABUSE AFFECTS US ALL

It has become a familiar scene on the evening news across the
country:Neighbors watch in stunned silence as police raid the house
next door and the nice couple, who for the most part kept to
themselves, is hauled away for running a methamphetamine lab in their
basement. How could this happen, the neighbors ask, in our
neighborhood? Compared to marijuana, heroin or cocaine,
methamphetamine, or "meth" as it is commonly known, is relatively new
in the headlines. But this drug has had a tremendous and terrible
impact in a short time. Once thought to be a problem affecting
primarily America's rural communities, we now know that no community,
no matter how large or how small, is safe from the allure and the
destruction caused by methamphetamine.

Users are drawn in by the drug's promise of euphoria. Its quick, feel-
good results make it appealing to a teenager who may be feeling blue
or to an exhausted stay-at-home mom.

We've seen the allure of a "high" with other drugs. But even more
sinister in some ways than cocaine or heroine, continued
methamphetamine use can interfere with the brain's ability to
experience pleasure normally. Can you imagine not being able to feel
joy or pleasure from the things that make you happiest today? Imagine
that you have unknowingly sacrificed your ability to feel such a basic
human emotion for the false, short-term promise of feeling happy, high
or euphoric.

Users quickly learn that methamphetamine is far from glamorous. Their
teeth rot; they can't sleep; they become emaciated from lack of
appetite; and their thinning flesh becomes scarred by deep, self-
inflicted scratches as they seek to scratch imaginary bugs out from
under their skin's surface.

But they are addicted, and they usually cannot stop without
help.

While some consider drug abuse to be a victimless crime, meth does not
just affect the user. It affects the children, it affects the
community, and in a very real and lasting way it affects the
environment.

The collateral damage of this drug is nothing short of horrifying.
We've seen babies burned to death when meth-cooking parents
accidentally set fire to the lab in their home. We've seen children
exposed to hazardous chemicals and severely neglected by their meth-
abusing parents. And we've seen environmental damage caused by meth
labs.

The chemicals used in making the drug include lye, red phosphorus and
hydriodic acid, and each pound of finished methamphetamine creates up
to six pounds of hazardous waste. These toxins are often dumped onto
the ground or into the water systems near the lab -- making meth your
problem.

Last March, Congress passed and President Bush signed into law the
Combat Methamphetamine Act, which gave us additional tools for
targeting meth traffickers. This law provides a national standard for
the retail sale of products containing the ingredients needed to make
meth, like pseudoephedrine, and makes other important contributions to
the war against drugs.

The most prominent change you may have seen is your local retailer
moving some cold medicines behind the counter. It seems like a small
step, but thanks to this and other initiatives -- particularly at the
state level -- we have made tremendous progress in preventing the
production of meth in small labs.

Now we're turning our focus to halting the manufacture and smuggling
of meth from superlabs controlled by Mexican drug trafficking
organizations operating in the United States and Mexico and to
reducing demand in this country. I've made clear to U.S. attorneys
throughout America that meth continues to be a high priority. But we
cannot win our fight against methamphetamine with prosecutions alone.
We also need to educate people about the dangers of the meth, so that
they never start using it. Finally, we need to make sure meth abusers
know that help is available to them, so they can get clean.

And so the president has declared today as National Methamphetamine
Awareness Day, and events are taking place around the country to
educate people about the dangers of this drug. The Justice Department
is working with our partners at the federal, state and local level, in
government and in the private and non-profit sectors, to increase
understanding of this problem.

It is our firm belief that education efforts do indeed reduce demand.
To put it simply, the more people know about meth, the less likely
they are to use it. And we've created a model methamphetamine
education presentation, called "Meth 101," that is available to
everyone on a new Web site: www.usdoj.gov/methawareness.

Meth poses a tremendous challenge for law enforcement and all of
society. We all share a responsibility to work together in this fight
to ensure a safe, successful and drug-free future for our children and
grandchildren. Progress toward that goal will be something very worthy
of giving thanks for this holiday season.