Meth arrests soar

Additional information Generation Meth: In a six-part series, the Deseret Morning News examined how methamphetamine addiction and meth-related crime is burdening Utah courts, prisons and social services and devastating families.

Methamphetamine-related arrests in Utah doubled the past year — the highest rate of increase in the nation, according to a new report.

A National Association of Counties survey of 500 law enforcement agencies showed Utah and Arkansas as the only states where meth-related arrests went up 100 percent over the past 12 months.

"How come that doesn't surprise me?" said Marjean Searcy, coordinator of the Salt Lake Meth Initiative.

NACo released its survey results Tuesday in a report titled "The Meth Epidemic in America." Four Utah police agencies participated in the survey, but the NACo would not identify them.

Narcotics officers have become much more efficient in working drug-related crimes, Searcy said.

Utah's dramatic increase in meth-related arrests goes against what appears to be a slowing trend in the nationwide meth epidemic.

The NACo asked counties in 45 states about the percentage increase in arrests during the past five years, the past three years and the past year. While 88 percent reported increases in the five-year period, only 67 percent reported increases the past year.

Utah and Arkansas were the only states to report 100 percent increases over all three periods.

Methamphetamine abuse is Utah's biggest drug problem, especially among women, the majority of whom have young children.

Salt Lake Police Sgt. Ryan Atack, who heads the narcotics squad, said meth use hit epidemic proportions in Utah seven years ago.

"I don't know that it's gotten any worse," he said. "It's still our number one problem."

The Deseret Morning News, in a six-part series called "Generation Meth," last November examined how meth addiction burdens courts, prisons and social services and devastates families and children.

Nearly 46 percent of women arrested in Salt Lake City test positive for meth, according to the National Institute of Justice's arrestee drug abuse monitoring data. The city ranks third highest in the country behind Honolulu and San Diego.

Among men arrested in Salt Lake City, 26 percent tested positive for the drug in 2003, the last year for which statistics are available.

The NACo survey results seem to be at odds with national drug-control policy, which focuses on marijuana, given its role as a gateway drug.