National, state and local officials today talked about the ongoing effort to shut down the use of illegal drug methamphetamine. Assistant U.S. Attorney General Rachel Brand says they’re introducing a couple of new things as part of today’s “National Methamphetamine Awareness Day.”
Brand says one is a new website — www.usdoj.gov/methawareness — that brings together all the existing materials about meth, and includes a new video presentation about how meth is made, how meth affects your body. She says the video includes the stories of meth users, including one Iowan. Brand says the website is a tool that can be used by many people. She says they hope it will be useful to law enforcement, teachers and others to teach about the dangers of meth.
Matt Whittaker, Iowa’s U-S Attorney for the Southern District, says the state’s new pseudoephedrine law has helped cut meth labs by 77-percent, and made Iowa a leader in the fight. Whittaker says while the state can’t declare victory, the cutback in meth lab can be seen as a major victory. Whittaker says we can’t afford to become complacent in the fight against meth.
Whittaker says good cooperation among law officers at all levels has helped in the fight and that will continue. Whittaker says he’s committing his office to work together to redouble their efforts to combat methamphetamine, and especially the organization that bring meth into the state. Brand says the majority of meth is now coming into the country from Mexico, and federal officials are working on cutting that supply.
Brand says the U.S. Attorney General got together early this year with the Mexican Attorney General to work on the problem. Brand says the announced a number of new joint issues they’re working on, such as sharing information at the border, they’re implementing enforcement teams at the border, and she says Mexico is improving its precursor laws to work with the United States. Iowa law officers are taking part in two-day training session for drug task forces to learn how to do complex drug conspiracy investigations.
Related web sites:
Meth Awareness website