Make meth a priority, feds

The Office of National Drug Control Policy needs to take some field trips to the states. There, officials would encounter a scourge that burdens law enforcement, child welfare agencies and substance-abuse treatment centers — methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine has become particularly problematic here in Utah, one of only two states where meth-related arrests doubled last year.

Federal, state and local law enforcers need more resources to monitor methamphetamine trafficking and to provide substance abuse treatment to users. The problem is, the White House insists on targeting marijuana, instead. The drug control policy office's Web site says marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug among America's youth. Considering that the potency of marijuana has markedly increased in recent decades and law enforcers are seeing more of it, there is some merit to the drug czar's approach.

However, methamphetamine is an entirely different animal. It's highly addictive, readily available and cheap. Utah is experiencing an influx of methamphetamine from "super labs" in Mexico, which require federal enforcement efforts. But the drug is also manufactured and sold out of private residences in Utah, which requires a different enforcement strategy.

The nation's law enforcers have begun to question the White House's sharp focus on marijuana. Fifty eight percent of police agencies that responded to a National Association of Counties survey identified methamphetamine as their largest drug problem. Eighty-seven percent reported increases in meth-related arrests the past three years.

Now, members of the Congressional Caucus to Fight and Control Methamphetamine are demanding that the Bush administration do more than pay lip service to the nation's methamphetamine epidemic. The 127-member caucus, co-chaired by Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, includes Republicans and Democrats.

The caucus's criticism is legitimate. The federal government's priorities and resources need to more closely mirror what municipal and county law enforcers are experiencing in their jurisdictions. There, methamphetamine addictions are fueling violence, tearing up families, destroying lives and contributing to upswings in robberies and burglaries.

Marijuana's pitfalls are many and should not be marginalized. But its effects are not as far reaching as methamphetamine, which is so addictive that abusers will sacrifice every worthwhile aspect of their lives to get high, including the well-being of their children, their relationships, their health or their financial security. With all of this at stake, it's time for the White House to place a higher priority on methamphetamine interdiction and substance abuse treatment.