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Sarah Jane ReportingGone to the pharmacist recently for some product with psuedoepinephrine in it? You showed your ID, signed your life away, and may have wondered if any of this actually prevented meth abuse.
There are plenty of people out there, maybe you're one of ‘em, who might wonder if the new laws for Sudafed are just more red tape. You gotta show your ID, sign your name, and you can only buy so much at a time. Well, those new laws actually are doing something. Good news is the number of meth labs in Utah is down. But the bad news is meth use is still on the rise.
Narcotics officer for the Salt Lake Police Department Margene Searcy admits the tougher legislation has created a bigger problem, and it's coming from south of the border.
Margene Searcy: "And so what we see clear across the United States is drug cartels are bringing methamphetamine you know like they do cocaine and heroin and marijuana up from other countries into the United States."
Substance abuse counselor Pat Fleming says Mexican drug lords already had the channels in place for coke and heroine distribution. He says they're now using those channels for the more lucrative meth drugs.
Pat Fleming: "If the Mexican drug producers can look at this and they can say, ‘huh, meth is cheaper for me to make, I can sell it on the streets up in the United States, I'm switching to meth.'"
He says that's why Governor Huntsman put together the meth task force, and is asking for more money to tackle this problem
Pat Fleming: "The governor has gotten really serious about this, he's been to visit some of the folks that we've got in some of our treatment programs in Salt Lake County, and he has come away and he has said ‘We're gonna take this on, and we're gonna do something about this.'"
The governor pledged to put two and a half million dollars into treating moms with meth addiction just this morning. Fleming says that's definitely a step in the right direction. There's currently only one treatment slot for every four meth addicts in the state right now.
