METH ADDICTION PERSISTS IN VALLEY

Long considered a social scourge, Utah's methamphetamine labs have
seemingly disappeared.

The state shuttered 121 labs in 2002, according to statistics from the
Drug Enforcement Administration. Three years later, that number was
down to 50. Then 15.

And then there were none.

The Cache/Rich Drug Task Force hasn't shut down a meth lab in more
than two years, Logan Police Det. Rob Italasano said.

But for all the talk of disappearing meth labs, Roland Parent, a
substance abuse counselor at the Bear River Health Department, has not
noticed the difference.

"There has been no change in the trend," he said. "In the last four
years, the number of clients that we serve has gone up 100 fold."

If the labs have all closed, the sunken eyes of meth addiction have
not.

Logan Police Sgt. Alan Hodges, the man in charge of the Cache/Rich
Drug Task Force, said eliminating local labs is but one step in what
he believes is a never-ending battle against the drug. Still, it is a
step he will take.

There are a number of factors involved in the decline. Hodges pointed
to a federal crackdown on methamphetamine precursors. The Combat
Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 made it more difficult to buy
products containing pseudoephedrine, ephedrine and
phenylpropanolamine, which are commonly found in cold medicine.

The risks - both legal and "the very real possibility of being blown
up" - along with the cost of making meth became too high, Italasano
said.

Instead, meth production has been outsourced to Mexico, where looser
laws have allowed for "super labs" to make hundreds of pounds of the
drug, where home meth labs might have made an ounce, Hodges said.

"If there's a demand, people are going to find a way to make it," he
said.

Officials at the Bear River Health Department can attest to
that.

Last year the department, which offers an intensive outpatient
program, treated more than 1,700 people with meth addictions, Parent
said.

Randy Wilde, an environmental health scientist for the BRHD, said
nearly 30 properties in Cache Valley had to be vacated in 2006-07
because of meth contamination.

Both police and health officials have theories on how to slow meth use
in the United States.

Hodges said restrictions on precursors, similar to those in place in
the U.S., would slow production. Parent said officials need to do a
better job securing the border.

Parent also blames meth's surge, in part, on a failure to
educate.

"We had cocaine in the '80s and we hammered that in the ground pretty
good," he said. "But we got lax and turned our backs, and meth took
its place."

If the addiction is to be curbed, he said, it will take an aggressive
approach.

So far, so good, Parent said.

Logan Police announced earlier this month that the department planned
to ditch the popular D.A.R.E. program in schools after nearly 20
years. In its place, the department will use the Nurturing,
Opportunities, Values and Accountability program - a modernized
curriculum, which officers believe does a better job preparing children.

On a state level, officials launched a $2 million media blitz, "End
Meth Now," earlier this year. The campaign consists of a series of TV
commercials, print ads and radio spots.

"The first step to overcoming this devastating drug is for citizens to
become aware of the increasing toll methamphetamine is taking on life
in Utah," Gov. Jon M. Huntsman said in a prepared statement when the
campaign launched in September. "Meth use harms all Utah citizens
regardless of whether they have fallen prey to addiction or if they
fall within the circle of influence of someone who is using."

Parent said he believes in the in-your-face campaign.

"They send a very clear message," he said. "Anything we can do to
help, we have to take that avenue."

The advertisements suggest anyone can be an addict. Your mother. Your
daughter. Your sister.

Indeed, the drug once thought of as the scourge of the lower class,
has broken down socioeconomic boundaries.

"It's across the board," Parent said. "It doesn't respect rich or
poor."

And the number of female users has skyrocketed in recent years, he
said. Of all meth arrests in the state last year, 65 percent were
women, Parent said. Women are enticed by the drug, he said, because of
what it offers on paper: increased energy and a decreased appetite.

But the long-term effects of meth use are well-documented and
devastating.

Meth users reported "runs" of staying awake for more than a week at a
time. They become mentally incapacitated. That's when paranoia sets in
and addicts commit crimes they often don't even remember, Parent said.

Logan Police have linked meth to more than 90 percent of violent
crimes.

"The cost they pay is just not worth it," Parent said. "You have
people who come from good families and they ruin their lives. It's
such a violent drug. You have mothers who choose meth over their children."

Still, Parent believes the fight against meth is one that can be
won.

"It's one at a time. If we can make a difference in one person's
life," he said. "For us to say that we can't win, I don't believe that."