Meth and Our Community

Methamphetamine, and the crime, human misery and other social costs it brings, is permeating Pima County and placing a tremendous burden on our taxpayers.

At a recent meeting of the advisory board I serve on for Pima County's Kino Hospital, the director of psychiatry for University Physicians noted that methamphetamine is now involved in about 50 percent of all admissions for psychotic symptoms. The hallucinations, suicidal thoughts and delusions manifested by the abusers of this inexpensive, highly addictive street drug often mirror the symptoms of patients with severe mental illness. Doctors in some cases have to wait two days or more for the drug's effects to dissipate so they can determine whether a person is suffering from a mental illness or exhibiting the effects of meth.

Our own sheriff in Pima County has labeled meth "the most insidious drug to ever hit the streets of America." Methamphetamine is closely linked to identity theft, car theft and violent crime and it’s now the county's leading cause in child neglect cases.

Consequently, meth is causing exponential growth in the cost of the county’s criminal justice system. Each meth arrest leads to greater expense in the sheriff’s department, public defender’s and county attorney’s offices, Pima County Superior Court, and ultimately, more strain on our jail and probation department. Even treating County jail inmates whose teeth have been rotted by the acidic methamphetamine they smoke have sent our dental costs through the roof.

The county should also take a more proactive role in coordinating all our resources which would include law enforcement, along with our mental health, public health and jail assets. We need to set up a task force to facilitate multi agency coordination to strike against this meth plague.

Enforcement alone cannot be the answer. This is a community problem and we need a community solution. It is important for everyone to get involved to try and stop it. A citizen initiated “Meth Free Alliance” has been formed as part of a community-wide action plan to target meth abuse. For more information, please call my office at 740-2738.

Surf the following sites for information on Meth: www.justthinktwice.com/gotmeth/home.html
www.MethResources.gov