Previously much attention was focused on the meth problem in the Western and Southwestern states. With the high numbers of clandestine lab activity in the Midwest, there is now clear evidence that this trend is moving eastward. Last year, states such as Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska reported escalating levels of meth activity.

Ron Gravitt, special agent supervisor for the California Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, notes that meth is slowly moving across the country and predicts that "within the next two years, methamphetamine will be the drug of choice in America."

Connecticut – Planning Ahead: In response to the potential threat of meth spreading to the East Coast, Connecticut’s Department of Public Safety, Division of State Police, Statewide Narcotics Task Force is preparing the state for dealing with a possible meth problem. Although the state had its first-ever reported methamphetamine-related arrest in February 1999, efforts began in 1998 to educate and train the law enforcement community on meth, the hazards associated with labs and health issues.

Capt. Peter F. Warren, of the Statewide Narcotics Task Force, has spearheaded an annual methamphetamine seminar to teach law enforcement officers from Connecticut and neighboring states how to identify a meth lab, how to practice on-the-scene safety measurers and to learn investigative raid techniques related to meth.

The key philosophy behind developing the annual seminar is to prepare and educate law enforcement and fire training officers in Connecticut and other Eastern states in light of meth’s rapid spread from the West Coast to the Midwest.

For more information about Connecticut’s efforts, see The Rising Methamphetamine Crisis: An Examination of State Responses, published in Policy and Practice, a quarterly publication of the National Criminal Justice Association, www.sso.org/ncja.

Or contact Captain Peter F. Warren, Connecticut Department of Public Safety, Division of State Police, Statewide Narcotics Task Force, 1111 Country Club Road, P.O. Box 2794, Middletown, CT 06457-9294, phone: (203) 238-6616; www.state.ct.us/dps.