TASK FORCE CREATED TO STAMP OUT METH

Focused On Treatment: Governor Announces The Startup Of The 34-Person
'Equal-Partner' Think Tank

Citing methamphetamine's costs to society, from bulging prisons to
children abandoned to foster care by drug-addicted parents, Gov. Jon
Huntsman Jr. on Monday announced the creation of a task force charged
with putting an end to the "scourge." Members of the 34-person task
force met for the first time Monday, but don't plan to meet again
until after the 2006 legislative session, which ends in March. The
committee has set no deadline for issuing recommendations. Huntsman's
anti-meth initiative is one of several launched over the years.

But supporters herald it as the first to truly commit to
decriminalizing drug abuse.

"About five years ago law enforcement would have said, 'Why are you
guys even in the room?' " said Salt Lake County Substance Abuse
director Patrick Fleming. "With this we're all equal partners."

In addition to police, prosecutors and the courts, Huntsman's
committee involves child welfare, environmental and substance abuse officials.

Topping their agenda: Boost funding for drug courts and other
programs that get people who are charged with drug-related crimes
into treatment. Salt Lake County recently devoted more than $1
million to its version of the Drug Offender Reform Act. But few rural
Utahns have access to treatment-oriented alternatives to jail, said
Camille Moore, president of the Utah Association of Counties. Remote
counties have smaller tax bases and need more money from the state,
Moore said. Also up for consideration is the creation of an online
database mirroring the sex offender registry.

The database would contain the names of Utahns convicted for
manufacturing meth as well as addresses of contaminated properties.
Huntsman isn't ignoring the law enforcement front.

He has asked the committee to propose new laws and stiffer penalties
for stopping the trafficking and manufacture of meth. But he said,
"You cannot incarcerate your way out of this problem."

A form of speed that is smoked, snorted or injected, meth is a potent
stimulant with long-lasting effects.

It is cheap and easy to purchase, appealing to teens, soccer moms,
blue-collar workers and club hoppers alike.

Methamphetamine grabbed national headlines this past year as the
drug, once a problem confined to Western mountain states, made
inroads east. But Utah has wrestled with the so-called meth
"epidemic" for years.

And despite efforts to contain it, the drug remains the No. 1 illegal
substance of choice as reported by Utahns in public treatment - a
rank it has held for five consecutive years.

The collateral costs to society are "enormous," said Huntsman, noting:

* Last year, more than 40 percent of all Utahns arrested on drug
charges and sent to drug court reported meth as their primary drug.

* Drug abusers with criminal histories are arrested an average of
three times before they get treatment.

* Drugs were a contributing factor in 1,910 child custody cases in 2005.

Historically, 75 percent of the money that Utah spends combatting
drug abuse has gone to law enforcement. But getting families into
treatment is far more cost-effective than jail, said Huntsman. Each
family treatment slot in Salt Lake County costs about $15,000
annually, he said. If the same person is jailed it costs about
$27,000. The price of keeping a child in foster care for a year is $33,000.