POLK NABS ANOTHER METH-MAKING SUSPECT

Health Officials Tie Drug to Hepatitis A

WINTER HAVEN - Polk County officials claimed another victory Thursday
in the war on methamphetamine abuse.

Sheriff's officials arrested Victor Anthony Vivi of Winter Haven just
after 3 a.m. and said they found items used to make and use
methamphetamine, including muriatic acid, acetone, pipes and
syringes, in his car and home.

Polk is known in law enforcement circles as the methamphetamine
capital of Florida. And an outbreak of hepatitis A that officials
call the worst epidemic in Polk in the past 10 years has been linked
to methamphetamine abuse.

Vivi was booked into the Polk County Jail and charged with
manufacturing/ trafficking in methamphetamine and possession of a
controlled substance, officials said. Vivi was being held Thursday.
His bail was set at $16,000. The investigation continues, and more
arrests are expected, sheriff's officials said.

``This morning's arrest and seizure is just another in our ongoing
battle to target suppliers in combating methamphetamine,'' sheriff's
Maj. Francis Hart said.

Hart said the sheriff's office has broken up at least five labs in
five months. And while the sheriff's office focuses on getting
traffickers off the streets, the county Health Department is intent
on resolving the addiction issue.

Methamphetamine is not just a drug problem, it's a health issue, said
health department director Daniel Haight. Haight estimates 60 percent
of hepatitis A cases can be linked to methamphetamine.

Hepatitis A can be spread in a number of ways, including through
shared needles, sex and unsanitary living conditions. That puts users
and their close contacts at risk, Haight said.

The county since Jan. 1 has had at least 165 confirmed cases of
hepatitis A, compared with 163 for all of last year.

``We continue to encourage drug users to get the hepatitis A vaccine
and to get help for their problem,'' he said.

Polk is a haven for methamphetamine production because it has lots of
rural areas where labs can be set up, its location near major cities
and a good highway network for distribution, authorities say.