REDWOOD CITY OFFICIALS URGED TO TACKLE METH USE

(REDWOOD CITY) -- The head of San Mateo County's drug treatment programs
urged supervisors to look seriously at methamphetamine use in the Bay
Area.

And a regional conference that would examine effective ways of
reaching a growing number of users is planned for June.

Yvonne Frazier, who heads the county's drug treatment effort, told the
board Tuesday that their county -- along with Concord and parts of
Alameda County -- is targeted for federal grants to tackle the problem.

Methamphetamine affects the way the brain functions. And health
officials say that it is increasingly available, in part because it is
cheaply manufactured.

``The Internet has made the problem worse,'' Frazier said. ``The
formula is available on the Net. People make it in their bathtubs.''
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Compiled from staff and wire reports by Mercury News Staff Writer Dana
Hull. Contact her at dhull@sjmercury.com or (510) 790-7311.