Orrin Hatch: “Meth abuse, unfortunately, is also rapidly becoming one of our top public health threats. According to the latest data…”

“Meth abuse, unfortunately, is also rapidly becoming one of our top public health threats. According to the latest data released by SAMHSA in its "Drug Abuse Warning Network" report released last week the number of children aged 12 to 17 who have had to go to emergency rooms due to meth use increased well over 200 percent between 1993 and 1995 alone. The number of deaths associated with meth has also increased dramatically. From 1989 to 1994, methamphetamine accounted for 80 percent or more of clandestine lab seizures by the DEA. Clandestine lab crackdowns are at an alltime high, and many more are going undetected. Mobile labs in rural areas of Utah, including numerous locations in Ogden, Provo, and the St. George area are making meth with virtual impunity. Local law enforcement does not have the manpower, resources, or technical expertise to cover such vast areas in a truly meaningful fashion. Federal law enforcement, most principally the Drug Enforcement Administration, has agents specially trained in the areas of methamphetamine lab take downs, but the number of such specialists is extremely limited, and certainly is of insufficient numbers to be any sort of meaningful presence in Utah, as well as the rest of the Rocky Mountains. I am deeply concerned about the Methamphetamine problem in Utah, as well as the rest of the Nation. In my State, distribution by Mexican traffickers has been expanded by using networks established in the cocaine, heroin, and marijuana trades.”