COMBATING METH ON THE RESERVATION

AZTEC - With U.S. Senator Jeff in attendance, the table was set for a
discussion on meth in New Mexico and on the Navajo Nation reservation.

Bingaman, who scheduled the meeting to discuss with area officials and
leaders what could be done to combat meth, cosponsored the Combat Meth Act
of 2005 and is now waiting for the full senate to consider the bill.

"I've been going around the state the last few months to understand the
problem and to learn what can be done both statewide and nationally to
combat meth," said Bingaman.

And while officials in different cities have approached the challenge of
stopping meth, the results have been the same and officials have all seen
the number of meth abusers increase.

"There are 500-600 pounds of coming into the area every year," said Ken
Christensen, Director of Region 2 Narcotics Task Force. "San Juan County
has become the hub for dealers to ship meth elsewhere. Most of the meth
here is from Mexico. The availability and quantity of it is increasing and
it is worth $16,000 per pound."

Even more complicated is the fight against meth on the reservation with
Navajo Nation officer's spread thin and with no official task force to
investigate and arrest against possible meth distributors.

"The communities predominately affected by the trafficking of
methamphetamine are in the rural areas of the Navajo Nation," stated a
report written by Alvernon Tsosie, of the Window Rock Criminal
Investigation Unit. "These rural communities have less or no law
enforcement presence's to reduce drug trafficking activities."

"The law enforcement presence's within the larger populated communities
report an active drug trafficking of methamphetimine among the youth and
middle aged adults," said the report.

As the discussion moved towards answers for the increase in drug activity,
the sections of the Combat Meth Act were discussed.

Within the meth act will be the restricting of sale of necessary
ingredients to make meth, providing critical resources to local law
enforcement and prosecutors and expanding the ability of local prosecutors
to bring methamphetamine distributors to justice.

"The number one law enforcement problem faced by many of our communities is
meth," said Bingaman. "I don't think we've awakened to the seriousness of
that problem and we haven't yet looked at prevention programs in place or
the education programs in place."

Other items involved in the Combat Meth Act include the increased awareness
and involvement of businesses that legally sell pseudoephedrine, providing
services children affected by the spread of meth and enhancing treatment
options.

"We don't have real treatment capacity for people that have become
addicted," said Bingaman. "It needs more resources and attention and that's
why I'm trying to focus on it."

In addition to looking for more funding to fight meth, Bingaman added that
the need for the area schools to educate children is great.

"I think everywhere I've gone around the state, we tend to keep things in
separate categories which works to our disadvantage," said Bingaman. "Law
enforcement is law enforcement, schools are schools and when you've got
people saying that 80-percent of crime is related to meth use. Clearly we
ought to be in the schools talking to kids and not just law enforcement but
the schools should having programs to educate the children."

Combat Meth Act will make funding available to states for additional
equipment, training for law enforcement agents and to allow funding to
clean up meth labs.

- - Brian Hassler is The Independent's Four Corners reporter based in Shiprock.