METH LABS TAX RURAL BUDGETS

1 District's Costs Up $1 Million

Tuesday, October 29, 2002 - The costs of coping with methamphetamine in
seven northeastern Colorado counties increased by nearly $1 million from
1999 to 2001, proving in dramatic dollar terms that the drug has become a
scourge in farm and ranch country, a new study shows. Methamphetamine
response is taxing rural government agencies from police and fire
departments to courts and social services, according to the study released
Monday by Colorado State University Cooperative Extension.

"People tend to think of drugs as an urban problem, and this clearly shows
that methamphetamine is a rural problem as well," said Lilias Jarding, who
headed the study, the first to quantify the impact of methamphetamine use
and production on the Eastern Plains.

The drug's use and manufacture have mushroomed in the state's northeastern
quadrant because the activities are more easily hidden, rural highways
offer easy trafficking routes and agricultural chemicals are accessible for
production, Jarding said.

CSU's outreach division conducted the study with the state Department of
Local Affairs for a methamphetamine task force in the state's 13th Judicial
District, which covers seven counties in northeastern Colorado.

Researchers compiled the costs of methamphetamine response from 42
responding agencies in Kit Carson, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick,
Washington and Yuma counties.

It is not clear what methamphetamine response cost agencies at the
beginning or end of the study period, but the increase over two years is
substantial in poor agricultural counties that are scraping to meet the
needs of residents, study participants said.

In just three or four years, the addictive drug, a stimulant that typically
is smoked or injected, has become a major focus for law enforcement,
courts, treatment agencies and social services in northeastern Colorado,
said Tom Westfall, chairman of the Finding a Solution Task Force that
commissioned the study. Its use cuts across socioeconomic lines, he said.

"The problem of methamphetamine has grown in leaps and bounds, and it is
stripping our resources," said Westfall, director of the Yuma County
Department of Social Services.

At least half the criminal cases handled by courts in the 13th Judicial
District involve methamphetamine - as do many divorce and dependency and
neglect cases, said Chief Judge Steven Shinn, who hopes to form a drug
court to address the problems.

The Morgan County Sheriff's Office is on pace to double its drug cases from
2001 to 2002, and that increase is wholly due to meth, said Undersheriff
John Fryar. The drug is a common denominator in the department's growing
caseload in all categories, including assault, domestic violence and
burglary, Fryar said.

Most alarming to many officials are the drug's youngest victims: the
children of those who use methamphetamine and cook it in hazardous home
laboratories.

Meth addicts are notable for ignoring family responsibilities in pursuit of
a drug-induced high, and social workers have seen the results as more and
more children are taken from their parents and placed in foster care,
Westfall said.

In one case, a toddler was put in foster care when the child's mother and
father quit their jobs and began manufacturing methamphetamine to feed
their habit and earn money to get by. In another case, Westfall said,
investigators found a baby's bassinet next to drug-producing equipment.

The study's findings will help government agencies understand and deal with
methamphetamine, he said.