New public service announcements and debate over how to tackle the ever increasing public outcry over contaminated houses dominated the discussion of the Utah Methamphetamine Joint Task Force's monthly meeting Monday.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. made a guest appearance at the task force's meeting to introduce the new public awareness campaign. Eight television and nine radio PSAs are scheduled to begin running in Utah June 1. They are just a precursor to the larger campaign the state plans to launch in the fall.

Six of the TV spots are localized with interview clips from Robin Kahus. Kahus, from St. George, was 13 when she started doing drugs and 18 when she got into meth. Once she became hooked on meth, she said she stayed an addict for 13 years. She described herself as being not only a "hard-core user," but also active in the manufacturing and distribution of the addictive drug.

"It consumed my whole life," she said.

Kahus, who has an 11-year-old son, has been clean now for nearly five years. She frequently speaks to schoolchildren and other groups about the dangers of drugs.

"I did a lot of damage to a lot of people. I want to give back and correct some of that," she said.

The task force presented its request for proposal, or its plan to find a qualified firm to put together a full-blown methamphetamine advertising blitz in the fall. The new campaign is expected to be different from anti-meth promotions in the past by encouraging the community to rally around victims and their families since meth is a problem that affects every Utah family, said Task Force Chairwoman Lisa-Michele Church.

"Families are part of the key to recovery," she said. "Past campaigns have demonized meth users."

Also Monday, the task force got into a prolonged discussion about the the proper cleanup of homes where meth has either been used or produced.

Gary House, head of the Weber-Morgan Health Department, said his office is starting to receive a lot of calls from concerned citizens who have either moved into an apartment, house or bought a used car only to find out later the previous owner was a suspected meth user. Those residents want to know contamination risks and clean-up procedures.

"State and local health departments are hitting the tip of the iceberg," he said of the growing problem. "We're really behind the eight ball on this."

On top of that, there's a growing number of complaints that people who are allegedly certified as a decontamination specialists to clean up meth homes aren't qualified at all, he said. That problem is largely a result of a lack of funding to monitor the activities of the so-called specialists.

The task force's Health Subcommittee introduced a proposal to address the growing "public outrage," — as one member described it — from residents who move into homes that were given the all clear only to find out later they remain contaminated. Some of those recommendations included developing health-based decontamination standards in place of the current methods.

Other task force members noted the financial resources needed for such research and testing just weren't within the task force's budget. They said to get proper funding on this issue, a bill needs to be introduced at the next legislative session.

The group decided to spend significantly more time at its next meeting in June discussing the issue of meth cleanup.

---

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com