METH EPIDEMIC

Drug Is Scourge Of Rural Areas, Officials Say

Methamphetamine is the nation's biggest law enforcement problem, local
officials across the county say.

It is worst than cocaine. It is crowding jails. It is leading to
increases in other crimes - thefts, violence and domestic abuse. And
it's increasing.

Officials from the National Association of Counties earlier this week
released a survey of 500 local nationwide to emphasize their point.
They declared that Washington's focus on terrorism and homeland
security had diverted funds and attention from the meth problem.

The same officials want Congress to restore funding for an $804
million drug - fighting program slated for elimination in the 2006
federal budget.

"This is a national problem that requires national leadership," said
Angelo Kyle, president of the association of counties and member of
the board of commissioners in Lake County, Ill., north of Chicago.

At a news conference in Washington, the group pointed out that
methamphetamine has harmed rural areas throughout America. The drug is
inexpensive and relatively simple to make, the materials readily
available. Whether smoked, inhaled or injected, it is very addictive.

Some 87 percent of law enforcement agencies in 45 states reported
increases in meth - related arrests in the last three years; 68
percent cited increases in lab seizures.

Fifty - eight percent said meth was their largest drug problem. It is
particularly bad in the Southwest and Pacific Northwest, with the
Upper Midwest not to far behind.

Seventy percent of counties reported increases in robberies and
burglaries due to methamphetamine; 62 percent reported a rash of
domestic violence; 53 percent a rise in assaults and 27 percent an
increase in identity theft.

As "Bill Hansell, president - elect of the association and a
commissioner from Umatilla County, Ore., warned: "Meth abuse is
ruining lives and families and filling our jails."

Washington needs to heed the message.