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Tonya Papanikolas reporting Drug task forces throughout the state are worried, as much of their federal funding is on the verge of drying up.
Over the last few years, Congress has authorized less and less money for state and local drug agencies.
In Weber County, the narcotics task force is getting 170,000 dollars less than it did a few years ago. Because of that, they've had to cut their budget in half for buying drugs undercover and paying informants.
They, and other task forces, are worried what will happen if the funds continue dropping.
In the middle of June, the Weber-Morgan Narcotics task force made its biggest meth bust yet; seizing almost 30 pounds of the drug and arresting two distributors.
Sgt. Keith Squires: "There continues to be more and more drug use."
Officers worked around the clock for three days to break the case, accruing over 100 hours of overtime. An expensive operation for task forces these days, since they're all getting less federal money to operate.
Richard Ziebarth, Contract Grand Analyst: In the last couple years, the funding for the state of Utah has gone down from about 4.5 million to about 1.5 million."
A million of that is divided up between 19 different drug task forces in the state. The Metro Narcotics Task Force in Salt Lake County received only 50-thousand dollars this year.
The director says the funding makes a big difference in under-cover operations.
Mike Wells, Deputy Director, DEA Metro Narcotics Task Force: If you're gonna make purchases of large quantities of meth, for example, you're gonna pay 10-11,000 for a pound."
Wells says his agency's job is to go after large drug trafficking organizations. To dismantle them from the top down, officers need a lot of expensive equipment.
Mike Wells, Deputy Director, DEA Metro Narcotics Task Force: "Wire taps on average cost us around 80,000 dollars."
Utah's task forces say they've made many inroads with federal money. In January, officers in Summit County arrested 7 people for funneling cocaine from South America to Park City.
In Utah County, drug officers seized 300 hallucinogenic mushrooms disguised as candy caramels.
Cpt. Keith Squires, Director, State Bureau of Investigation: "It really is an eye-opener when you see how much is going on."
Some task forces have applied for other federal grants to make up the money they've lost. But they say if Congress continues to cut funds, they may eventually have to reduce the number of officers they have working on these cases.
