CRACKDOWN ON METH USE

The California Office of Criminal Justice has come through with a $4
million grant that should put another crimp on San Joaquin Valley
methamphetamine drug makers and dealers.

About 25 percent of the grant is expected to arrive soon to help a
coalition of local law enforcement agencies fight the war on meth. The
grant will allow the startup of the Multi-Jurisdictional Methamphetamine
Enforcement Team. The Sheriff's Department will be the lead agency.

Officers on the team will take on detective and undercover-type work,
targeting methamphetamine sellers and users.

The grant is mighty welcome. Methamphetamine, also known as crank, speed
and crystal meth, is the leading drug problem in Kern County, according to
law enforcement officials.

Assistant Sheriff Mike Bradley cites these statistics:

In 2000, nearly 4,000 people were booked into Kern County Jail for
possession of restricted drugs. An additional 1,240 people were booked into
jail for possession of restricted, dangerous drugs for sales. In most
cases, meth was involved.

And he said, that's not counting the more than 700 additional people who
were booked into jail for selling a controlled substance, mostly
methamphetamine.

Sadly, the drug is an equal destroyer of people across the socio- economic
scale.

Bradley notes: "(Methamphetamine) is extremely common. It doesn't
differentiate between small or large communities, unincorporated or
incorporated communities. It's a significant problem in all geographic areas."

With its vast barren stretches of isolated land, Kern County along with
other valley counties, has become a hot spot for nefarious types bent on
creating their own concoctions of the deadly brew.

Kern County already has a multi-agency task force focusing on big-time drug
manufacturers and dealers.

Now the new task force also will be able to concentrate on the street-
level dealers who sell meth at perhaps $5 or $10 a quantity. Law
enforcement officials say this is a common problem faced by communities
throughout the county.

The grant will create about 19 new positions in the agencies involved. This
includes the Sheriff's Department, District Attorney's Office, county
probation, and Bakersfield, Taft, Shafter and Delano police departments.

Those who partake in the illicit meth trade have been served notice: You
are not going to have any safe havens in Kern County.