METH LABS FEWER, BUT DRUG USE REMAINS HIGH

New state laws aimed at reducing the number of illegal methamphetamine
labs seem to be working, but they have not put much of a dent in the
sale and use of the highly addictive drug.

New figures on the number of meth labs in the state show a significant
drop in the past year. Burnett County Sheriff Dean Roland attributes
that to the states new laws regulating the sale of the ingredients
used to make meth.

A meth enforcement expert at the University of Wisconsin Law School
says fewer labs means fewer children affected by the toxic process of
making the drug and reduced risk to police who have to clean up the
labs once they bust them.

Mike Scott heads the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing in Madison.
He says while fewer drug labs is good news in one respect, it does not
mean the drug problem has ended. He says that is because more potent
meth is flowing into the United States from Mexico and the number of
addicts in Wisconsin and elsewhere has remained constant.

Scott says the best way to deal with that is to convince Mexico to
step up its effort to restrict the sale of pseudoephedrine, anhydrous
ammonia and all the other chemicals used to produce meth. He says
controlling the supply of chemicals, whether at the wholesale or
retail level, is really going to be the most effective way to control
meth production and use.

Scott says the other front that really needs attention is treatment,
and Burnett County Sheriff Dean agrees. He says his county has the
drug lab problem largely under control and what he needs now is more
money to expand drug treatment programs for the addicts meth has
produced. He believes that the treatment dollar goes a lot farther
than the incarceration dollar.

How much money and what kind of treatment has become a hot topic in
the current race of attorney general. All three opponents of incumbent
Peg Lautenschlager have competing plans for cracking down on meth and
treating its victims.