STATE UNVEILS NEW PROGRAM TO FIGHT METH

'Meth Watch' Aims To Help Retailers Recognize Customers Buying
Meth-Making Ingredients

New Mexico is adding another tool in its fight against
methamphetamine, and it's beginning in Rio Rancho.

On Friday, 13 New Mexico district attorneys gathered at the
Department of Public Safety headquarters to announce an expanded
methamphetamine-combating program and to train to take that program
back to their districts. With the recent state legislation requiring
pseudo-ephedrine products be kept behind a pharmacist's counter, many
methamphetamine makers are importing that drug from across the Mexico
border, state drug czar Herman Silva said.

The now statewide Meth Watch program is aimed at helping retail
managers and employees recognize when customers are buying the other
necessary, but still unlegislated, ingredients, including acetone,
rubbing and isopropyl alcohol, starter fluid, drain cleaner, rock
salt, aluminum foil, and more.

"Retailers are a prime target for meth cooks who may steal or buy
large quantities of precursor ingredients from their stores," Silva
said. "Many stores have experienced a decrease in loss from theft
that is directly related to their participation in Meth Watch. Meth
Watch partners are helping to unite their communities against drug use."

Under the program, retailers will work closely with police to target
those likely to cook methamphetamine.

The statewide program is the same one that 16 other states already
employ. It was first used in New Mexico in Curry and Roosevelt
counties. Kevin Spears, who was representing 9th Judicial District
Attorney Matt Chandler, was quick to laud the success of that local
program. "Since we launched this program, we have had no meth labs in
Roosevelt County," he said. "Things are changing."

While meth labs have decreased statewide - last year's 76 lab busts
was down 41 percent from 2004 - meth use is still on the increase, Silva said.

Donald Gallegos, the 8th Judicial District attorney and president of
the New Mexico District Attorneys Association, said the need for a
statewide program was great.

"The methamphetamine issue, it hits every area in New Mexico," he said.

Bernalillo County district attorney Kari Brandenburg put a number on
the problem. She said 40 percent of crime in her district was
connected to methamphetamine and 50 to 80 percent of the supply is
coming across the border. "Any one agency can't do it by itself," she
said. "We're not beating the problem (because meth labs have decreased)."

But for some of the district attorneys, it was the effects of the
drug that had them most concerned.

"It's very insidious; it's very scary," 6th Judicial District
Attorney Mary Lynne Newell said. "It is so highly and quickly addictive."

Those sentiments were echoed by Mayor Kevin Jackson, who represented
the city along with councilor Marilyn Salzman and recently retired
DPS Deputy Director Steve Shaw.

"This is a tremendous problem that we have in our state and our
cities," Jackson said. "And it's a nasty problem."