There are more arrests in Wyoming for meth than any other drug. Keeping with the high incidence of violence that accompanies meth use, there has been a 151% increase in assault arrests in the past 10 years.

Meth and Youth:In 1997, approximately 10% of Wyoming high school seniors reported they used meth, compared with 3% nationally.

Strategy: In 1998 Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer (R) asked the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) under the Attorney General’s Office, to design a comprehensive plan designed to combat the use and availability of meth in the state.

The Wyoming Meth Initiative (WMI) which received approximately $3 million from the state legislature in 1998 included:

• Increasing law enforcement agents dedicated to enforcing meth laws.
• More drug treatment personnel for increased caseloads.
• Improved treatment provider training.
• A heightened public awareness campaign.

(Special Note: The treatment continuum component of the initiative places treatment at the front end of a prison sentence for persons convicted of a drug or drug-related charge. At every phase of the incarceration continuum an individual can receive individually tailored treatment. Upon release, the individual is transitioned back into the community through a revocation treatment alternative program.)

For more information about the Wyoming Initiative, 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: Thomas J. Pagel, Director, Wyoming Office of the Attorney General, Division of Criminal Investigation, 316 West 22^nd Street, Cheyenne, WY82002, phone: (307) 777-7181; www.state.wy.state/us/~ag/.