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Samantha Hayes ReportingMeth, whether its made here or just bought here, investigators say a recent bust reveals a dangerous misconception about one of Utah's most serious substance abuse problems.
The number of meth makers in Utah has decreased substantially in the last decade, but drug investigators say busting meth labs here has not had the effect they and legislators were hoping for.
When lawmakers passed legislation that made it much more difficult to obtain the ingredients to make methamphetamines, the hope was fewer people would use meth; but the problem has not gone away, it has just changed.
Federal agents were not looking to bust a meth lab Thursday night, but that's what happened when they went to a mobile home community to serve a warrant. It was the first meth lab bust this year in Davis County, down from seventeen in 2004.
The decrease in home grown meth is a state trend, but the drug is still here.
Scott Van Wagoner: "That drug has been coming from south of the border where there is no governance in place."
In 1999, 272 meth labs were seized in Salt Lake County; by 2005 that number was reduced to 37. Scott Van Wagoner investigated many of those cases and dismantled some of the labs. He keeps a large file on hand
The pictures of addicts are the most dramatic -- what they looked like on the first arrest and then years later when the effects of the drug are startling.
Scott Van Wagoner: "I think there might be a misconception that we might not have the problem we use to. That misconception comes from the fact that we don't see as many meth labs on our streets, but the chronic meth use is still there."
They may not be making it on the streets, but they are buying it there and investigators say it's easy to find.
Scott Van Wagoner: "We are still seeing that we can buy meth from numerous sources throughout the valley, it's readily available."
The use of meth is also evident in the number of children taken away from their drug addicted parents -- 31 percent of children placed in custody in 1998, 66 percent 2004; that's just six years.
